[dirtboy]

The meeting was opposed by the National Rifle Association, and Mr. Ricker said in his affidavit that pressure from the rifle association led the gun industry to disband his organization in favor of the more conservative National Shooting Sports Foundation.

Mr. Ricker can't POSSIBLY have an axe to grind here ... nah...

[coloradan]

Yet another article that abuses the word "loophole" by claiming thing specifically spelled out in law that limit government power are "loopholes".

This article also claims the NRA is "a bunch of right-wing wackos." LOL!

[xsrdx]

Complete Fiction Bang!

[trebb]

And booze is sold to minors, along with cigarettes. Prescription drugs are sold or prescribed improperly. Heck, lots of stuff is handled improperly, but the usual solution is to go after the offenders, not the manufacturers.

[Teacher317]

Did he just watch "Liberty Stands Still" or something? That was a central theme.

(Utterly horrid movie. Wesley Snipes covers virtually every anti-gun and evil-right-wing stereotype and conspiracy theory possible... every bit of the movie's story takes place in a single block of a city park... and they don't even have the guts to show Linda Fiorentino's nude scene!)

[dbwz]

bookmarking bump

[Ches]

I wonder what they have on him? Looks like another person has fallen "victim" to the PC crowd.

We won't prosecute you if you do this for us. Like a drug dealer getting a "get out of jail free" card for turning other people in.

[an amused spectator]

Fox Butterfield of the New York Times. 'Nuff said.

[harpseal]

I am absolutely certain that most gun manufacturers know that there is almost no illegal diversion of the firearms they make at the manufacturing level. That is where they have some modicum of control. It means that they do not violate the law and sell their products outside of the Federally regulated distributor market and they take every reasonable means to prevent pilfering of their stock.

What of it? Watch manufacturers take every reasonable means to prevent the pilfering of their stock and only sell to distributors. This is a normal and reasonable business practice and there is little that the firearms manufacturers could do other than open up their own wholly owned dealerships in each state to compete with the small gun shops or engage in mail order sales (which would require repeal of the current Federal laws banning that practice). I am willing to wager that most distributorships and FFL dealers would make the same statement. These people do not wish to go to jail and do not knowingly violate Federal law by selling to people they know are remarketing the firearms they sell. Neither do they knowingly cover up thefts of their stock in trade. One does not make money by allowing people to steal their property and having to fill out those insurance claim forms which usually have a deductible attached.

Of course the man who made this statement is knowingly trying to make a perfectly reasonable fact of life seem nefarious. Gun grabboids are totalitarian monsters and should be treated as such.

[Dan from Michigan]

Fox Butterfield

There's the first problem right there.

a White House meeting with President Bill Clinton to discuss preventing more school shootings like the one at Columbine High School in Colorado
Klinton meeting..nuff said again.

disband his organization in favor of the more conservative National Shooting Sports Foundation
He lost his job due to NRA influenced internal politics. That's nothing new. I've seen it firsthand.

including a stint as a lawyer for the N.R.A.,
Doesn't mean a thing.

"we've got a bunch of right-wing wackos at the N.R.A. controlling everything."

Ricker is full of crap. The NRA is not right wing wackos.

IMO, this is internal politics, the NRA and Ricker had a nasty split for one reason or another, and Ricker wants to jump into a case of one-upsmanship to get even.

[Lancey Howard]

Mr. Ricker, a moderate in an industry dominated by hard-liners, lost his post as executive director of the American Shooting Sports Council in 1999 after attending a White House meeting with President Bill Clinton to discuss preventing more school shootings like the one at Columbine High School in Colorado..... The meeting was opposed by the National Rifle Association, and Mr. Ricker said in his affidavit that pressure from the rifle association led the gun industry to disband his organization in favor of the more conservative National Shooting Sports Foundation.

There you have it - - the guy is a liar and a scumbag with an axe to grind.

...said in an affidavit filed in court in San Diego yesterday that gun manufacturers had long known that some of their dealers corruptly sold guns to criminals but pressured one another into remaining silent for fear of legal liability.

What a pathetic allegation. Meaningless - - a puff of air.
Leave it to the NY Times to breathlessly make this non-story into the next 'Insider', or whatever that tobacco movie was called.