by The quote below is from Chapter 3 of Ruthless – The Blackwell Files Book 2. It is a book of fiction by author Steve Freeman. He says this series of novels are from “his firsthand knowledge of military service, the tech industry, and the diverse cultures of our world”.
After a bit of research and the purchase of a masterfully-produced set of faked credentials, (the killer) used the forged documents and a Visa gift card to buy a used Smith & Wesson through one online retailer, and a compatible silencer via a different online site. (The killer) had the purchases shipped to an abandoned house, allowing for a an anonymous, nighttime pickup of both items.
While our enemies in the gun prohibitionist movement would like to believe the above is reality, it is utter fiction. You know it, I know it, and the author of the book hopefully knew it.
Unless it was an intrastate transaction, firearm sales go through a FFL and get a NICS check before delivery to the purchaser. As to the silencer, you are looking at a $200 tax stamp plus a generously estimated 6 month wait for the background check. You also have to submit photos.
And fingerprints.
http://twitter.com/sfreemanwriter
I get very frustrated about this type of thing. I think it is irresponsible. The average Joe, reading a work of fiction assumes that the background is real. He understands that the action generally isn't and he may understand that the criminal masterminds and heroes are caricatures of the real (lesser) thing, but he assumes that the laws, the neighborhoods, etc pretty much mirror what is going on in his life.
Michael Connelly, an author who I really enjoy, is constantly throwing in random bits about people (always the suspects) who don't have a permit to own their gun, in spite of the fact that no permit is required, even in California, to own a handgun. The police are constantly checking to see if their target has any "registered" handguns. It is written to present registration and permits in the best possible light as a great tool for law enforcement.
I see this from many other authors and frequently in movies. I have to assume that either the writers are ignorant and assuming things to be the way they think they are; or anti-gun and maliciously including life the way they would like it to be.
You make a very good point here. Would you contact the author, if possible, and point out the mistake? Or just let it be and assume that they are anti-gun?
Even in intrastate sales, the sellers willing to list a firearm online and NOT go through a FFL are very few and far between.
Every television show you see — even ones set in places like Colorado (Last Man Standing) or Wyoming (the execrable Longmont) — yammer about people having to have permits to buy guns, about "tracing" guns (like they have some master database) with "registrations" and "ballistic data". The media wants to set up the narrative that you do, so that one day, when they government-media complex becomes powerful enough, permits really ARE required to buy a gun, the average vacuum-head who has never touched a gun in its life will not know any different.
Why do I get a picture in my head of him installing the silencer on an S&W Revolver?
I think most of us had the same thought. For the general reader, when you hear S&W you think revolvers and not the M&P.
Much less an M&P with a threaded barrel.
To be fair, there was a fellow who stole another guy's identity in Florida and bought some guns, but he didn't ship them anonymously to an abandoned house, he went to a store and passed the check.