August, 2013.
The ATF recently raided and shut down a gun shop in East Windsor, CT, called Riverview Gun Sales -- the very same gun shop where the mother of Sandy Hook Elementary shooter, Adam Lanza, bought the assault rifle that her son used to commit the massacre.
According to the pro-gun extremist essayist, David Codrea, at Examiner.com, the shop was raided as a sort of scapegoat because of the legal sale to Lanza's mother, and not because of its history of illegal gun activity, and as a means for President Obama to exercise his "pound of flesh hammer" because of failed gun reforms in Congress!
From Codrea's article:
“The guns used in Newtown were legally -- and with no record-keeping hiccups whatsoever -- sold from LaGuercia’s store to the shooter’s mother,” Chiafullo reminded his readers. “Shortly thereafter, the Obama ‘we need a pound of flesh’ hammer came down on Laguercia [through] an ATF raid on his store, with media tipped off beforehand.
"Regulatory problems suddenly transformed into criminal problems," Chiafullo noted. "Exit FFLGuard counsel, and enter criminal defense lawyers. Regulatory consequences...? Of course. But criminal? Never. This is a watershed event."
In a later article, Condrea then considers suspicious the timing of the raid with an article that was published shortly after, suggesting some sort of ATF-media co-conspiracy "staged media event":
“Now the sale to Lanza was spot on,” the source told Gun Rights Examiner on the night of the raid. “No conflicts, errors, or anything.
“But tonight, at 6.30, ATF showed up at his door with 30 agents and a search warrant,” the source observed. “Without sounding like a conspiracy theorist, this article hit five minutes before that.” ...
It’s fair to ask how The Courant was able to produce such a detailed report practically simultaneously to the events without advance information of the ongoing raid. It would appear to be especially relevant as the situation was deemed by professional federal law enforcement to be dangerous enough to send dozens of armed agents and police officers ostensibly into harm’s way, not to mention posing real risks to store employees and any customers who may have been on premises.
It’s also fair to ask if information about “ongoing criminal investigations” is only jeopardized when Congress asks for it. Perhaps someone from there will be motivated to find out who at ATF tipped off the reporters, and if there were any prior internal discussions, memos or emails about coordinating the raid with the media.
But the raid had nothing at all to do with the sale of the gun in the Sandy Hook massacre, or the fact that both Adam Lanza and his mother occasionally went target shooting at the store. The raid was because of illegal gun and ammo sales to a felon by an employee, 33 guns gone missing (!), and other questionable gun crimes, which Condrea mentions, yet curiously gives no concern for, overlooking it completely so he can push his conspiracy theory.
From Condrea's own article:
The notice reveals reports of violation issued in 2007, a resulting warning letter and conference in 2008, further citations in 2009, another warning conference in 2010 resulting from those findings, and further “willful violations” reported to LaGuercia in 2011. Most were for paperwork/form-completion and reporting violations, but one of the most serious findings dealt with Riverview employee Krystopher Dibella, alleged to have “on at least two occasions” sold ammunition to “a person whom he had reason to believe was a felon,” and who then allegedly also “allowed [him] to handle firearms while he was on the licensee premises in violation of [U.S. Code].
Other crimes are also listed The Courant news pages:
In June 2007 a Somers man who occasionally worked at Riverview Sales was charged with stealing 33 guns from the business. In that case the store's owner, David E. Laguercia, contacted ATF after determining his store could not account for 33 firearms. Video surveillance showed the man taking two guns.
In March 2008 that man pleaded no contest to two counts of stealing a firearm from the store and received an 18-month suspended prison sentence.
Besides selling the Sandy Hook massacre assault rifle, this same gun shop has also been the scene of at least one gun theft case:
According to East Windsor police, on Saturday, Marsh grabbed a Bushmaster .50-caliber rifle from Riverview Sales valued at $5,000 and ran from the store. When store employees confronted Marsh, he pulled a knife, then fled on foot. Police officers eventually caught and arrested him.
But, hey, these pro-gun types won't let facts get in the way of their conspiracy theories. I'm sure all those other crimes wouldn't justify ATF investigation, would they?
Just another wacko pro-gun conspiracy theory!
November, 2013.
A deranged man, Paul Ciancia, 23, with a grudge against the TSA and anti-government paranoia, went into Terminal 3 of Los Angeles Airport, walked up to the TSA security screening area, pulled out an assault rifle, and opened fire. One TSA agent, Gerardo Hernandez, was killed, two more were injured. He injured others in the terminal, as well, until a police officer shot and injured him, taking him into custody.
As with other mass shootings, the tin foil pro-gun crowd immediately jumped to the conclusion that the government must surely have been behind the whole thing, somehow.
One YouTube pro-gun poster who posts as "ThinkOutside The TV" wasted no time, videotaping a TV airing of the Los Angeles Police Chief giving a press announcement about the shooting.
What was so damning that *clearly* indicates that the police department had set up the whole shooting (and thus made Mr. Ciancia a patsy, instead of blaming the shooter or the society that arms him)? The police chief indicated that his department had trained for exactly this scenario only three weeks before! And, to add fuel to the fire, two of the men behind the chief made movements when he said that: one looked down for a moment, and another wiped his face. Clear evidence! Enough to post to the world that the police department is somehow behind this, right? Right??
See the video from this conspiracy nut HERE:
And what possible motive would the police department have for staging a mass shooting in their airport? "ThinkOutside The TV" doesn't deign to offer a theory, of course, because it's nonsense.
The really fascinating part about this case is that the shooter, himself, is a conspiracy theory nut! According to Hatewatch, Ciancia had bought into the whole New World Order conspiracy theory (that our government was conspiring with other governments to merge and become one world government, thus losing our national sovereignty), was viciously anti-government, and hated the TSA with a passion. So is it really surprising that one conspiracy nut would be doubting the guilt of another conspiracy nut?
From an article:
Paul Anthony Ciancia, who allegedly wounded three other TSA workers before being shot and critically wounded himself, also expressed antagonism toward the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its chief until she resigned in August, Janet Napolitano, the source said. Ciancia’s note called former Secretary Napolitano a “bull dyke” and contained the phrase “FU Janet Napolitano,” the source said.
Ciancia’s language and references seemed to put him squarely in the conspiracy-minded world of the antigovernment “Patriot” movement. The New World Order refers to a longstanding conspiracy theory that today, in its most popular iteration, claims that global elites are plotting to form a socialistic “one-world government” that would crush American freedoms. Often, the root of the alleged conspiracy is traced to the 1913 creation of the Federal Reserve and the adoption of fiat currency — paper money that is not backed by gold, as it was once was in the U.S. ....
One witness told MSNBC that Ciancia asked people at the airport if they were TSA and, if they said they were not, moved on without trying to harm them.
Yesterday, several news organizations reported that Ciancia was carrying a hand-written document referring to his desire to kill “TSA and pigs.” Pete Williams and Andrew Blankstein of NBC News, who first reported that Ciancia had referred to the New World Order, also wrote that a source said his manifesto “expressed animus toward racial minorities.” Hatewatch was not able to confirm that allegation.
Just another wacko pro-gun conspiracy theory!
October, 2013.
We can all count on ultra-conservative blowhard Rush Limbaugh to push ridiculous, over-the-top conspiracy theories. Now he's got another.
According to him, Obamacare may be creating a "stealth" gun registration program.
Here's how his fevered mind works: A U.S. company is being used to build Healthcare.gov. That company is associated with another company in Canada, which had once been tasked with creating the Canadian gun registration program. Never mind that the Canadian company was dropped before they completed their effort, but that's evidence enough for this pundit to send out to all his listeners.
See and listen here.
Limbaugh referred to an article onBreitbart.com that claims a Canadian company, CGI, has a U.S. subsidiary, CGI Federal, that was paid $93.7 million to build HealthCare.gov.
CGI was also once contracted to build a nationwide gun registry for the Canadian government.
However, CGI's contract for the gun registry was canceled in 2007 because it was "significantly over budget" and a more conservative government took over the country.
According to MediaMatters.org, Limbaugh suggested their might be an anti-gun conspiracy in this report (audio below).
"Here's a group that tried to put together a gun registry in Canada," said Limbaugh. "Oh yeah, we love those kinds of people. Gun registry, oh yeah, that's the kind of people we need."
"While we're working on health care they can be, in a stealth way, establishing one of those here maybe, just ruminating, you know," added the radio host.
Just another wacko pro-gun conspiracy theory!
August, 2013.
Larry Pratt, Executive Director of the extremist pro-gun group, Gun Owners of America, is certainly no stranger to conspiracy theory mumbojumbo, as I have reported several times before.
This time he agrees with the ridiculous assumption, put forth by the Talk to Solomon Show, that Obamacare is going to force electroshock therapy on bipolar patients. Then they make the even more ridiculous assertion that this diagnosis and treatment will be extended to gun owners who are defending themselves.
See the video here. From the article and video:
During an episode of the Talk to Solomon Show on Tuesday, Stan Solomon noted that The Fort Myers News-Press had reported last week that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was becoming a popular treatment for bipolar disorder.
“There’s saying, hey, it’s quicker than some drugs and all that type of thing,” Solomon observed. “But so is a bullet.”
“But the fact is, I am telling you, I believe that we’re going to see things get worse before they get better, and you’re going to see people that are going to be — quote — unquote — incorrigible, however they define incorrigible, maybe resisting when people come crashing into your house,” he told Pratt. “Your thoughts? Because we’re becoming very much an able-to-defend-yourself and an unable-to-defend-yourself country.”
“Well, I think part of that is what we’re seeing in Obamacare,” Pratt agreed. “This is going to be what you’re talking about several times over.”
Just another wacko pro-gun conspiracy theory!
