NYC Mayor Invades Arizona

New York’s Mayor-for-Life Michael Bloomberg’s lust for totalitarian control over other people’s lives knows no bounds, so you could hardly expect him to limit himself to attacking the Second Amendment liberties of those unfortunate enough to live under his jurisdiction. Now that all problems have been resolved in NYC, he has been conducting sting operations in Arizona:

Weeks after the shooting in Tucson, sellers at an Arizona gun show allowed undercover investigators hired by New York City to buy semiautomatic pistols even after they said they probably couldn’t pass a background check, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday. …

Bloomberg has authorized similar sting operations around the country as part of a push for tougher federal laws to help keep guns off the streets of New York.

But in the sensitive aftermath of the shooting Jan. 8 that killed six people and critically wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the mayor was questioned about the time and place of his hidden-camera investigation, a $100,000 operation conducted almost clear across the country.

Bloomberg’s big bust was a just that — a bust.

Jim Cavanaugh, a retired agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, where he was in charge of the Nashville division, said he didn’t believe the sales described by the mayor were, in fact, illegal.

“It’s not a prosecutable offense” because the purchasers were not truly felons, minors or drug abusers and because they didn’t tell the sellers definitively that they were, Cavanaugh said. As for Bloomberg, he said, “ATF has asked him not to do it and to please coordinate with ATF if he thinks a violation is occurring.”

Bloomie has been warned before about his ham-fisted overreach.

In 2007, the U.S. Justice Department warned in a letter to City Hall that such civilian operations risk “legal liabilities” and can “unintentionally interrupt or jeopardize ongoing criminal investigations.”

But he just couldn’t resist exploiting the Jared Loughner killing spree.

The mayor conceded that most illegal guns in New York City are coming from states along the East Coast, but said the rampage in Tucson would bring national attention to the investigation.

Loughner bought his gun at a sporting goods store after passing a federal background check, making his case irrelevant to Bloomberg’s gun show sting operation, except when it comes to wringing every last drop of hysteria from the tragedy.

Meanwhile New York is sure to be in for more global warming before winter is over. Hopefully the streets will get plowed next time.

On tips from AC, Conan, and Muddypaw. Cross-posted at Moonbattery.

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