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Covert Operation Requested by Anti-Gun Dems to Bust Illegal Internet Sales Comes up Empty
Judicial Watch ^ | January 4, 2018

Posted on 01/04/2018 11:56:16 AM PST by jazusamo

An investigation requested by two fierce anti-gun members of Congress to determine if firearms are purchased illegally from internet dealers has come up empty. Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren demanded the probe in the aftermath of mass shootings and the investigative arm of Congress, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), conducted a lengthy covert operation to try to purchase firearms illegally from internet dealers.

All 72 of Congressional investigators’ attempts to purchase a firearm illegally via the surface web were unsuccessful, slamming Cummings’ and Warren’s claims that guns are easily obtained by criminal elements on the internet. “All of our attempts to purchase firearms from private sellers on the surface web were unsuccessful,” the GAO writes in an extensive report. “Our covert testing involving GAO agents attempting to purchase firearms illegally on the Surface Web were unsuccessful. Specifically, private sellers on Surface Web gun forums and in classified ads were unwilling to sell a firearm to our agents that self-identified as being prohibited from possessing a firearm.” Most of the sellers refused to complete a transaction once the undercover investigator revealed either a shipping address across state lines or a prohibition by law from owning firearms. Five of the vendors went so far as to freeze the undercover GAO accounts, preventing agents from using forums and attempting to make a purchase.

In their ardent push to ban guns Cummings and Warren, both high-profile Democrats, questioned whether the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) was enforcing gun laws involving transactions facilitated by the internet. The lawmakers asked the GAO to investigate whether online private dealers sell firearms to prohibited individuals. The probe was conducted from July 2015 to November 2017, in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. It turns out that the ATF’s Internet Investigations Center, created to investigate buyers and sellers who use the internet to facilitate illegal firearms transactions, is indeed doing its job efficiently, according to the bipartisan GAO. “The Center uses several tools to provide investigative support to ATF, which has resulted in the arrests of individuals using the Internet to facilitate illegal firearm purchases,” the GAO report states.

Both Cummings and Warren have been vocal advocates for strict gun control measures in recent years. Last year Cummings joined House Democrats in a protest against congressional inaction on gun violence. “Every year, tens of thousands of Americans die as a result of gun violence,” the veteran congressman said during the heavily publicized sit-in. “In some states, firearms take more lives than car accidents. The American people are fed up with inaction and so am I. It is time for House Republicans to treat gun violence like the scourge on our country that it is.” The demonstration took place months after Cummings praised former President Barack Obama’s executive actions to prevent gun violence by expanding criminal background checks.

Warren has also been on a longtime war path against Americans’ rights to own firearms, proclaiming that “Rambo-style assault weapons” should be banned. The liberal icon co-sponsored a 2013 law to ban military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. She warned her colleagues during a speech on the Senate floor last year that Congress would have “blood on our hands” if assault weapons aren’t banned. After the Las Vegas shooting that killed dozens and injured hundreds, Warren took to social media to warn that “Tragedies like Las Vegas have happened too many times. We need to have the conversation about how to stop gun violence. We need it NOW.”


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events; US: Maryland; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: 2ndamendment; atf; banglist; elijahcummings; elizabethwarren; gao; guncontrol; gungrabbers; internetgundealers; judicialwatch; jw; maryland; massachusetts
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To: MarchonDC09122009

Someone else posted it yesterday, and I’ll have to admit to lifting it to be used here.

It’s so fitting for some issues.


21 posted on 01/04/2018 12:23:57 PM PST by DoughtyOne (McConnell, Ryan, and the whole GOPe are dead to me. Are Alabamans tired of winning?)
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To: jazusamo; 100American; Abundy; Albion Wilde; AlwaysFree; AnnaSASsyFR; bayliving; BFM; Bigg Red; ...

Maryland "Freak State" PING!

22 posted on 01/04/2018 12:27:16 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Happy New Year! Screeeeewwwww 2017!)
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To: jazusamo

Pickle Puss Cummings and Fauxcahontas Warren: FAIL. Maybe they’ll run for President and Vice President in 2020!


23 posted on 01/04/2018 12:29:12 PM PST by Panzerlied ("We shall never surrender!")
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To: jazusamo

Then lets take it from the congressional pension plan.
This shit would stop on a dime


24 posted on 01/04/2018 12:37:40 PM PST by Keyhopper (Indians had bad immigration laws)
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To: jazusamo

However humiliating this would be for a normal person, these are liberals. They never admit failure or fault. They’ll continue to strut and preen and act like they’ve actually accomplished something.


25 posted on 01/04/2018 12:59:22 PM PST by IronJack (A)
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To: WayneS

Take THAT, Fauxcahontas!

I’d love for Gray Beaver to storm into a gun show screaming at the top of her lungs (wouldn’t get very far).


26 posted on 01/04/2018 1:05:05 PM PST by elcid1970 ("The Second Amendment is more important than Islam.")
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To: jazusamo

Warren was so mad she began to jump around in circles screaming. And then it began to rain.


27 posted on 01/04/2018 1:25:35 PM PST by cyclotic (Trump tweets are the only news source you can trust.)
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To: jazusamo

I put a 25 year old Browning A5 12ga, a Japanese model, for sale on a local Georgia gun forum about 2 years ago. It was in very good shape, but there are probably a million of these floating around in the U.S., just a very common gun. I clearly stated the buyer had to be a GA resident with a current GA driver’s license since it would be illegal to sell directly to an out of state buyer.

I am located a few miles north of Atlanta GA. I got an email from a guy in northern Kentucky not too far from Louisville. He offered to make a special trip down and buy the gun. This is sort of like him driving 6 hours to buy a used Toyota Camry. I refused to sell it to him.

Also got an email from a guy in Birmingham Alabama saying he would be in Atlanta on business and asking to buy it, refused to sell it to him also even though he emailed twice.

I thought the emails were very suspicious, especially the guy from N. Ky. Not worth taking a chance knowing the sting attempts by the BATF.


28 posted on 01/04/2018 1:35:58 PM PST by Stevenc131
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To: cyclotic

Dance Queen...LOL!


29 posted on 01/04/2018 1:37:01 PM PST by jazusamo (Have YOU Donated to Keep Free Republic Up and Running?)
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To: Stevenc131

You did the right thing and the smart thing, FRiend.


30 posted on 01/04/2018 1:40:00 PM PST by jazusamo (Have YOU Donated to Keep Free Republic Up and Running?)
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To: Keyhopper

At a minimum, it should come from their office budgets


31 posted on 01/04/2018 2:06:00 PM PST by motor_racer (Who will bell the cat?)
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To: jazusamo

bkmk


32 posted on 01/04/2018 2:07:11 PM PST by Sergio (An object at rest cannot be stopped! - The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight)
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To: cyclotic

HA!


33 posted on 01/04/2018 2:08:23 PM PST by TangoLimaSierra (It's gonna be bloody.)
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To: jazusamo

Take the cost of this ‘investigation’ out of their salaries-—50 -50.


34 posted on 01/04/2018 2:32:04 PM PST by ridesthemiles
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To: jazusamo


and the RATS, take another one in the.........HA ha!!!

35 posted on 01/04/2018 4:14:24 PM PST by Chode (You have all of the resources you are going to have. Abandon your illusions and plan accordingly.)
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To: Chode

I love that bull graphic. LOL!


36 posted on 01/04/2018 4:54:24 PM PST by jazusamo (Have YOU Donated to Keep Free Republic Up and Running?)
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To: jazusamo

me too... 8^)


37 posted on 01/04/2018 5:13:28 PM PST by Chode (You have all of the resources you are going to have. Abandon your illusions and plan accordingly.)
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