Sen. Tim Kaine is a liar

Speaking to a group of dozens of supporters of Mike Bloomberg's Everytown for Gun Safety last week, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said:

"The voice against background records checks isn't the voice really that's just about background records checks. I mean, it is largely fueled by gun manufacturers and funded by gun manufacturers who basically have one policy. And that's sell as many weapons to whoever you can, whenever you can, wherever you can, in whatever frequency you can."

That statement is a lie.

It's not even an artful lie. It has built-in absurdities that won't stand up to the simplest questioning. For example, how do gun manufacturers benefit from a robust legal market in used guns?

Senator Tim Kaine trusts the Iran nuclear deal, but
doesn't trust American gun owners, and is willing to lie to support his position.

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Not only is it a lie, Kaine's statement is an insult to anyone who doesn't buy the lie. He intentionally misleads people regarding the actual reach and impact of proposals that he is broadly referring to as "background records checks." He also implies that these records checks are not currently being conducted. That is a lie.

Let's get some things straight:

• A "background check" is required on every purchase of every firearm from every federally licensed gun dealer in the country, including Virginia.
• It is a federal felony to "engage in the business of buying and selling firearms" without a Federal Firearms License, but just as you can sell your car without being a car dealer, an individual can occasionally sell a gun without being a gun dealer.
• It is a federal felony for anyone who is prohibited from purchasing or possessing a firearm to buy or attempt to buy a gun.
• It is a federal felony for anyone to sell a gun to anyone they "know or suspect" to be a "prohibited possessor."
• The Roanoke murderer who shot the TV reporter bought his gun from a licensed dealer and passed a federally mandated background check. So did the terrorist who shot the Marines and sailor in Chattanooga, and the guy who shot Gabby Giffords, and the guy who murdered the people at Emanuel AME Church, and just about every other high-profile murderer in the past 20 years. None of the current proposals would have prevented any of these tragedies.
• The gun control laws being pushed by Kaine and Bloomberg are much broader and more invasive than they claim and would make criminals out of ordinary Americans.
• The current "background check" law was advanced and promoted by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade group of the firearms industry, and by the NRA.
• To this day, the NSSF and the NRA actively support the current federal laws listed above and actively lobby in favor of legislation to encourage or compel states to provide more records – particularly mental-health records – of their citizens, and enhance the scope and accuracy of all of the system's records.

I disagree with NSSF and NRA's position because I believe the background check system is a huge, wasteful bureaucracy that burns taxpayer money and resources to violate the constitutionally guaranteed rights of Americans. But to suggest that firearm manufacturers are funding or driving opposition to expanding the system is patently false. If it weren't for fear of backlash from their customer base, many manufacturers would undoubtedly push for even stricter laws as a way to dry up the used firearm trade so consumers would buy more of the manufacturers' new guns. Though few would admit it today, many of our nation's current gun laws and regulations originated as protectionist programs to shield the industry from foreign and especially military-surplus competition.

Sen. Kaine's comments were delivered to a small group of supporters of Mike Bloomberg's gun control conglomerate, Everytown for Gun Safety. The group had promised to "flood the U.S. Capitol grounds" with their protesters, but the nation's largest and wealthiest gun control mega-corp could muster, at best, a few hundred people, along with a bunch of politicians and a large turnout of media for their dog-and-pony show.

Kaine was joined at the event by fellow Virginia Sen. Mark Warner and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, along with family members of victims and survivors of "gun violence." Using emotion and hyperbolic rhetoric, the speakers pushed for support of Bloomberg's main goal these days, criminalization of private firearm transfers.

Note that I used the word "transfers," not "sales." While sales are encompassed by the broader term "transfers," the proposals are not limited only to sales, but include any transfer of a firearm from one person to another, including loans, gifts and even simply letting someone else handle a gun momentarily. This is one of the big lies of the battle over "universal background checks," the implication that the proposals only deal with sales.

Sen. Kaine wants to take the unconstitutional intrusions even further and has introduced legislation to not only force private gun buyers and sellers to pay a fee, fill out federal paperwork and conduct the transaction through a federally licensed dealer, but he also wants to assign liability to the seller for any subsequent crime committed with a gun they sold. This would put all gun dealers and anyone who ever sold a personal firearm at serious risk of crippling litigation.

Kaine and the rest of Bloomberg's minions will continue to double-down on the "universal background check" lie. The lie needs to be called out every time it comes up.

Second Amendment defenders can directly counter the Bloomberg blitz with calls to our elected servants in Congress. Point out that "universal background checks" are neither universal, nor are they real background checks. Point out the risk of turning ordinary, innocent people into felons when they sell, give, or even loan a gun to a friend. The lie also needs to be called out in public forums, including letters to the editor, and in social media.

Don't buy the lie, and don't let your friends be deceived.

Media wishing to interview Jeff Knox, please contact [email protected].