M.Y.O.B

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg apparently does not like how things are done out here in Utah.

The Mormon Church owns one of the most active and unregulated gun sale portals on the web, according to a national investigation released by the New York City Mayor's office.

The website in question is KSL.com, the online hub for Utah's NBC affiliate and sister radio station, which are both owned and operated by the for-profit arm of the Mormon Church. In addition to local news, KSL.com produces a popular classifieds section that reaches millions of users well beyond Utah.

The LDS connection drew little notice when Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a leading financier of the gun control movement, published the report in December, but an official involved with Bloomberg's investigation is calling out the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for putting "profits over principle." 

KSL.com, like a lot of media websites, offer a very vibrant LOCAL marketplace where LOCALS can buy, sell and trade anything that is legal to buy, sell or trade.

Mayor Bloomberg's organization is targeting KSL for it's supposed "unregulated" nature....

But the real problem isn't the volume, the report's authors say; it's the unregulated nature of KSL.com. While other classifieds sites require users to deal only on their sites with registered and confirmed accounts, KSL makes it easy for buyers and sellers to deal behind closed doors.

From the report:

[On KSL.com] sellers frequently list their contact email and phone number, which are openly displayed on the ad. This feature makes it easy for buyers to contact sellers and arrange to buy a firearm without identifying themselves – a feature that is particularly attractive to unscrupulous purchasers who do not want their purchases detected or recorded. And the website allows visitors to search for items being sold by private individuals who, in contrast to licensed dealers, are not required to conduct background checks.

This is where Mayor Bloomberg is talking out of his hat.  For you see, Utah statute already covers the type of "unscrupulous" deals that he so fears.  

• Illegal to sell a handgun to anyone under 21 (18 USC 922(b)(1); 27 CFR178.99(b))
• Illegal to provide a handgun to anyone under 18 (Utah Code 76-10-509.5)
            (Note- sales governed by federal law above have 21 year minimum age.)
• Under 18 cannot possess a handgun or other dangerous weapon (Utah Code 76-10-509; 76-10-509.4)
• Illegal to sell a rifle or shotgun to anyone under 18 (18 USC 922(b)(1), 27 CFR178.99(b))
• Illegal for a legal purchaser to buy a firearm with intent to provide it to anyone ineligible to purchase a firearm from a dealer (Utah Code 76-10-527)
• No one under 18 can possess firearms (other than handgun) without permission from parent or guardian (Utah Code 76-10-509)
• A parent is required to take guns away from juvenile children (Utah Code 76-10-509.7)
• Certain exceptions for hunting, target range, under parental/adult supervision (Utah Code 76-10-512)

The bottom line here is that ANYONE who sells a gun here in the state of Utah is required to check the qualifications of the person that they are selling to - to ensure that the law is met.  But then again Nanny Bloomberg has never been one to let fact get in the way of a good meme.

One of the funnier aspects of this story comes via the NY Daily News.

Undercover agents performed “integrity checks” on the site, trying to buy guns while declaring openly that they could not pass a legit background check.

In eight of 12 attempts, the seller happily sold the gun to the shady buyer .

There is a problem with their little sting.  If money actually changed hands, Nanny Bloomberg is guilty of entrapment.  If no money changed hands....well I could say I was a 19 year, anorexic ballet dancer and that would not make it fact any more than someone saying that they would be willing to sell to an unqualified out of state buyer would. 

The other thing that Nanny Bloomberg so fears is guns purchased from out of state being shipped into New York.  Well the problem to that is that federal law does not allow that to happen.  If you do ship a gun to another state, you have to make sure that your shipment meets the laws of the state you is shipping TO and Federal law requires that all weapons shipped be shipped to a Federal Firearms licensed dealer who can *GASP* run the required background checks to make sure that the firearms are not going to ineligible people.

 Now obviously there is a lot more to this story than is being reported...some from the media and some from the Bloomberg group.  There is an agenda being pushed here (surprise) and that does need to be considered.

That said, Mayor Bloomberg has no business trying to tell Utah, KSL or the Mormon Church how they choose to do business.  He has no jurisdiction here and he has no jurisdiction on how a local website handles it's local trade.  He may think he is all that for being Mayor of New York but that does not mean a whole lot out here.  

Mayor Bloomberg want to tell us what to do?  Well I have some advise for him...Mind Your Own Business Mayor and we'll mind ours.  OK?