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Here is Who The NRA is Really Defending

By: Adalia WoodburyJan. 20th, 2013more from Adalia Woodbury

When the NRA reacted to President Obama’s gun regulation proposals, the organization claimed:  ”Only honest, law-abiding gun owners will be affected and our children will remain vulnerable to the inevitability of more tragedy.”

The reality is the NRA is defending people like Richard Schmidt, convicted felon, neo-Nazi and potential terrorist who managed to buy assault weapons and 40,000 rounds of ammunition despite laws prohibiting convicting felons from owning them.

After he killed a Hispanic man and shot two more people with a semi-automatic handgun in 1989, Schmidt was charged with murder and felonious assault. After Schmidt accepted a plea on the lesser charge of manslaughter, he was sentenced to 10 – 25 years in prison. At this point, it’s unclear when Schmidt was released from prison.

Despite his homicide conviction and existing law that prohibits convicted felons from buying firearms, Schmidt was able to buy assault weapons and 40,000 rounds ammunition. Authorities discovered Schmidt’s arsenal while they were investigating him for marketing counterfeit clothes (football jerseys with NFL logos made in China.)  The assault rifles; semi-automatic handguns, high capacity magazines and ammunition were discovered during a search of Schmidt’s store and trailers.

Northwestohio reports Schmidt was arrested on December 21. His indictment, unsealed on Wednesday,

 charges Schmidt with a variety of crimes related to the possession of 18 firearms, body armor, and more than 40,000 rounds of ammunition. The indictment says Schmidt, 47, was in possession of these items despite being found guilty of manslaughter in 1990. That conviction prohibits Schmidt from possessing firearms, ammunition, or body armor.

 

According to Michael Isokoff’s report, the FBI also found evidence of Schmidt’s ties to the neo-Nazi movement.

Among the evidence seized, according to search warrants, was a video of a national convention of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement; bumper stickers of the National Alliance party, another neo-Nazi group; a “Jewish 500″ list — a supposed roster of Jewish-owned businesses — and paraphernalia from the “Waffen SS,” Adolph Hitler’s Nazi military force in Germany from the early 1930s through World War II, according to the search warrants.

Isokoff also reports that FBI counter-terrorism agents found evidence that Schmidt may have been planning to attack Jewish and civil rights groups in the area of Detroit, possibly with other Neo-Nazis.

The President’s package of proposals target people like Richard Schmidt and the person/people who sold him assault weapons, high capacity magazines and 40,000 rounds of ammunition that may very well have been used for another massacre.

When the NRA, Rand Paul and gun militants throw their hissy fits over sensible proposals like universal background checks, they are defending people like Schmidt who would never pass a background check..  They also defend the people who would sell weapons to others like Schmidt in their opposition to the President’s proposals. And in this case, the NRA is defending someone who may have been planning a massacre of Jews and/or civil rights groups.

Law enforcement is still investigating the specifics in this case, but Schdmit is an example of the need for universal background checks.  Those who say otherwise are, in reality, arguing in favor of convicted felons like Schmidt owning firearms.  Nothing about that is about defending the second amendment, our children or honest, law abiding citizens.

Image from: northwestohio

Here is Who The NRA is Really Defending was written by Adalia Woodbury for PoliticusUSA.
© PoliticusUSA, Jan. 20th, 2013. All Rights Reserved

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