Lowest of the low, and that is why we cherish it so. A robocall regarding the 2009 Virginia Attorney General election at tomorrow’s Republican Convention. You can’t make this stuff up.
And how utterly annoying would it be to find this on your answering machine as I did? It does not redound against Brownlee, but actually makes you want to shoot whoever produced it.
For all of us who see politics as entertainment carried out by other means, this robocall is classic material.
Pathetic politics by someone who obviously thought it was brilliant. Just when I’m sure I’m mediocre at best, someone steps up that helps me realize that I’m actually a friggin’ genius.
I actually think the person (or people) that made this incredibly annoying call did so purposefully. It is a grenade or gag, not a call of substance.
30 lashings with an al dente noodle for the makers of this robo call.
What a load, jack. Brownlee is too classy for anything of that sort. I would bet good money it was put together right here in Loudoun County by a couple of well known political bullshit artists.
But it is so irritating – my first reaction was “what A**HOLE left this message on my machine” – that you have to suspect some degree of jiu jitsu or reverse psychology.
In any case, the robocall rulebook has been irreversibly changed, and I want to get into that business.
I have no idea who made this, and don’t give a shit. Brownlee should hope it goes away before too many look at the details regarding grampa being busted by ATF. My guess is the blow back obscures the story.
Call last night from McDonnell with Wolf in tow. Bob’s great lie to a caller concerned about Virginians and their 2nd Amendment rights-”I have an 18 year record of supporting the 2nd Amendment.” If we get the tri-fecta at the convention tomorrow-McDonnell/Bowling/Brownlee-and then win the whole ticket at the election booth, I fear it will be back to the good-ole-boy network of GOP politics. Sure, for some it will be a “win” from the Dems but what will the difference be? Nothing but a letter.
Oh my, I just read the case where Brownlee prosecuted Grandpa and he almost did go to jail. This is problematic.
The robo call are still hideous.
Cathymac, I read the case as well. I did find the sentencing recommendation more than a bit out of whack for the circumstances.
However, I really don’t care if “Grandpa” was as old as the hills and a WWII vet. And I don’t really care if he was participating in a long-standing local tradition. I am a firm supporter of the 2nd Amendment; but this business of selling your guns in a flea market to anyone who comes down the pike really does bother me a great deal. The old guy had absolutely no idea to whom he was selling his weapons. How many of those weapons actually do wind up in the wrong hands because they are so easy to get without a trace? How many of them may even now be stuffed in the belt of some MS-13 member hustling drugs up I-81?
I think we have to be sensible enough to accept some limitation on the passing around of these lethal weapons without some sort of transaction record. We keep bucking every little thing on this issue and we will soon wind up like the smokers. It seems to me that sometimes our own behavior can be our own worst enemy. I’ve known people who didn’t give a crap about second-hand smoke but whose ire was raised considerably by smokers who insisted on stomping out their butts anywhere they damn well pleased. The smokers were, in effect, helping to kill their own cause. I suspect that, if we always go for everything on this issue of guns, we are going to lose everything eventually. Draw a sensible line in the sand and fight like Hell for it; but don’t always try to include the indefensible in your protected turf.
Now, I know I will get the crap dumped on me from the ultra-2nd Amendment people, as well as that line about not giving an inch to Obama because he will always try to take the mile. But understand that I have had a foot in both worlds. I support the 2nd Amendment absolutely. On the other hand, I have had to try to track down people in a world where there was no record whatsover on the lethal weapons used, not even on the plastique explosive, much less the guns. I didn’t have much fun in my life trying to do that. I’d hate to think that those killers got their weapons from some old grandpa selling away merrily in a flea market
Wolv, I was looking at the language and the “grey area” in the law. This seems to be the crux of the situation. Seems to me even an old WWII vet would have some sense of who to sell to and who not. Plus the targeting of a flea market that has been operating (as an unofficial gun trading post) for over a 100 years, in a rural county no less, seems way overboard. I’m fairly certain they sent in a sensible looking, clean cut guy to buy the gun (s), not a hispanic male in baggy pants, bandana and shaved head.
The decisions that bother me on the part of the ATF are the ones I listed above, then there is the decision of the Prosecutor’s office to ask for a 3 years sentence. Much of the “information” and “lessons learned” could have come from much less. How about utilizing local law enforcement instead of sending in a bunch of feds? I think our tax dollars are better spent going after the gang bangers and other undesirables, not targeting seniors with gun collections.
Don’t mean to argue, just saying this could be problematic.
He was housing 75 weapons that he bought at wholesale. He was commercial without a friggin license.How are you going to twist this, again?
He NEEDED to go to jail.
There are too many people out here who DO OBEY the law. Make an example of the ones who don’t.
Wolve,
You make a valid point and one that any sensible individual is well aware of when “selling” firearms. I and the people I know always sell/trade/give to a dealer, family member or friend. On that rare occasion when it is to a stranger, that stranger must be a resident (valid gov’t photo ID) plus give me his/her SSAN (confirmable) and current address as well as being of legal age to own before I let that piece out of my possession. I also don’t want these arms ending up where they don’t belong and, if one of mine does, I need to feel okay about it with the paper trail I posess (which will be passed on after my death as part of my documents). I DON”T WANT or won’t allow ANY gov’t to keep records on my transactions as we see on a regular basis the availability for abuse and mis-use. History and other countries well prove my point.
From RichmondLiberty.org. dated March 12, 2009:
Of course, Brownlee does not state how it was known that Testerman ordered the handguns “for the purpose of resale” (the court opinion stated only that “he had used a friend’s federal firearms license number to purchase guns directly from wholesalers”), which is critical since, to be guilty of engaging in the business of dealing in firearms without a license, a person must “repetitive[ly] purchase and res[ell] firearms” with “the principle objective of livelihood and profit.”
I still can’t find that magic number of 75 guns or 75 purchases at wholesale anywhere. I wonder where that information came from?
Cathymac, agreed that it is unlikely that gangbangers are going to show up at a rural flea market to buy guns — at least in the area of Virginia under consideration here. My concern is with the earnest looking, nicely dressed, and polite chap, usually White, who might show up at those same flea markets. They call him the “middle man.”
Don’t know if BPM is right on his post but “needed to go to jail” was not the opinion of the judge.
Wolv, I honestly don’t know much about middle men and gun transactions but this particular flea market does not seem to me to be the type of place a gang banger middle man would deal. I could be completely wrong, but that’s still my inkling.
The evidence presented at trial was sufficient to convince the jury that Testerman was, in fact, engaged in the commercial sale of firearms without a license. Of the 5 counts he was indicted on, that’s the one he was convicted of. There’s no magic number, 75 or otherwise, just the jury’s assessment of intent and resultant action.
The reason Brownlee asked for 33 months jail sentence is because that’s what the sentencing guidelines for the crime in question call for. Read the judge’s opinion for why he reduced it but the bottom line is even his write up is clear that 33 months was what the guidelines recommend.
Moot point now, of course, since Brownlee’s not the nominee. But let’s not engage in the fiction that he did something wrong by we conservatives in this case.
Wolv and Ric, Your expertise is much appreciated.
It is May 17, 2012, 3:29 am
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