ISIS Has Plans for our Gun Shows

It seems as though the terrorist group, known as ISIS, has plans to infiltrate gun shows and stores to acquire tools for their jihad. We'll get to that in a moment, but first, a little background …

Last year a reporter from the New York Times received access to interview an ISIS operative that was born in Germany and is currently in jail in Bremen. Many things were brought into the light that were previously unknown about ISIS operations as well as some plans that the organization has had.

In the months that have followed, there have been further interviews with the ISIS member by other reporters as well as a slew of secret services and law enforcement agencies and the information that has been gathered has been extremely valuable in the ongoing fight against them.

The interviews have also brought about a look into plans that ISIS has for future terror attack preparations, including one that affects gun owners in this country: Gun shows.

WHAT IS ISIS' PLAN?

Since the publishing of the aforementioned New York Times interview last year, intelligence communities have been looking into the idea of ISIS members infiltrating gun shows, because as the operative put it in his interview with the NYT …

“They say the Americans are dumb — they have open gun policies. They say we can radicalize them easily, and if they have no prior record, they can buy guns, so we don’t need to have a contact man who has to provide guns for them.”

Now, this was just the word of one man a year ago, but obviously, the intelligence community will take these words very seriously and it's a good thing they do because just recently the official ISIS magazine “Rumiyah,” the terrorist organization spells out in writing that it plans to do just that.

The article in the magazine stated that “The acquisition of firearms can be very simple depending on one’s geographical location. In most U.S. states, anything from a single-shot shotgun all the way up to a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle can be purchased at showrooms or through online sales — by way of private dealers — with no background checks, and without requiring either an ID or a gun license.”

And if they cannot get a hold of a gun through these legal methods, “Rumiyah” stated that the next best possible plan would be to rob a gun store or a gun show. (Which if you've seen the aftermath of people who have tried to do that, you might think that this magazine is trying to get its readers killed.)

The Truth Of The Matter:

This information was reported on by the Washington Post in an article that certainly had a political slant promoting gun control (Surprise, Surprise).

Just to point out a couple of things, really quickly, a majority of all gun sales in this country require the purchaser to go through a background check. Yes, there are certain instances where it is not required based on state laws and to say otherwise would be foolish. However, even those folks who do private transfers generally only do them with people they've known for a long time.

Why? It's just too risky to do anything else, and I've never met a law-abiding gun owner who wants to help another person commit a crime on accident.

Furthermore, internet sales still require that you send a gun to a gun dealer to get a background check done. Facebook and other social media websites have made it ever more difficult to purchase a gun in a private sale for no other reason than they are extremely anti-gun.

Heck, we even have a hard time advertising this website on Facebook, and we DO NOT SELL GUNS!!!

It's also pertinent to add that the operative said above that if they couldn't get guns in this country, they'd provide a “contact man” to get them. In other words, just as in France–with some of the strictest gun laws in the world–and the rest of the European terror attacks, they'd still be able to get their weapons of choice regardless of any attempt at gun-control.

Let me rephrase that, terrorists and criminals will always have a way to get their weapons of choice to harm people. Why would the Washington Post suggest that gun control is the answer, when the only thing that accomplishes is disarming people who only want to defend themselves?

Conclusion:

Keep going to your gun shows and frequent your gun stores often, and if there is an incident or any suspicious looking activity, make sure you know how to handle it accordingly.

Yes, it is true that there are a few areas of the country in which no background check is needed to buy a firearm, if gone through a private sale. Private transactions, while much rarer than the media would have you believe, do happen. And, gun shows take place all across the country, every single weekend.

They are going to keep happening. Crippling the industry out of fear isn't the right answer, especially since criminals and terrorists were able to get their weapons of choice in other, more strict countries.

Instead, what we need to do, is what we have been told since 9/11. Don't be fearful, be vigilant.

Just to be clear, this is not me saying that we need to look at anyone who appears vaguely Muslim with a leery gaze, it just means that if in a crowd of people you see someone acting suspiciously it might be worth it to mention it to someone. If there is someone attempting to rob a gun show or hurt people at one, well that's why we carry a concealed gun, isn't it?

That's just one of the scenarios we should be training for whenever we go to the range.

That's why we practice drawing from the holster, go to the range for target practice, and why we learn How to Defend Ourselves in a Crowd. It's not out of fear, it's out of vigilance.

If there is anything you'd like to add, please do so in the comments below.