We’re going to assume that you’re aware that Katie Couric is the executive producer of a scandal-riddled documentary called Under the Gun. The film, directed by long-time Couric collaborator Stephanie Soechtig quickly came under fire for a fraudulent and possibly libelous edit that has members of the Virginia Citizens Defense League weighing their legal options.
A week later another bombshell about the film dropped, which suggests that Soechtig and a Colorado-based producer—believed to be Denver, CO attorney Joshua A. Kunau—committed federal felony gun crimes while attempting to show that the current background check system doesn’t work.
Soechtig inadvertently confessed to the crimes in a February interview which has since been pulled offline.
She then released a revised claim yesterday to several media outlets.
While it may seem hard to believe that one could buy these types of guns this easily, all purchases in the film were made completely legally. Arizona law allows out-of-state residents to buy long guns (i.e. rifles, shotguns, military style assault rifles) from a private seller without a background check. It also allows Arizona residents to buy handguns from a private seller without a background check.
We demonstrated both versions of this dangerous loophole in the film on a hidden camera, in full compliance with both state and federal laws. The rifles – including an AR-15, the gun used to massacre 20 first graders – were purchased by an out of state resident. The handgun was purchased by an Arizona resident.
These guns were then turned over to law enforcement and destroyed. They never left the state of Arizona.
What Soechtig clearly doesn’t grasp is that Arizona law is not the only law with which she needs to comply, and by having a Colorado resident producer purchase firearms in Arizona, she conspired (perhaps criminally) to have him buy firearms in interstate sales in violation of federal laws, specifically 18 U.S.C. § 922 : US Code – Section 922.
Bizarrely, Soechtig seems to think she’s off the hook, and that the evidence of their crimes—the guns themselves—were destroyed.
The new claim by Katie Couric’s documentary producer Stephanie Soechtig that guns she arranged to purchase in Arizona have been destroyed is in conflict with Arizona law that protects such public property once it is turned over to police.
In a frantic effort to cover her tracks and “make good” on a failed attempt to paint gun owners in an ignorant light, Couric and her producer Stephanie Soechtig and team have apparently committed conspiracy and multiple federal felonies. Buying firearms privately without paperwork or background checks across state lines violates federal statute (18 USC §922 et seq.). Private sales among law-abiding resident adults within a state such as Arizona are perfectly legal under most conditions since no criminal activity is involved. Couric’s team reportedly came from outside the state to commit the acts. Some observers believe the laws Couric could be charged under are unjust and should be repealed.
Couric’s team has now claimed the firearms they bought, with videotape evidence of the purchase (the exact number of guns purchased is now disputed by the team’s own changing accounts), have been destroyed by police. The generic term “police” could refer to numerous state and federal agencies, which have not been clearly identified. But it would appear impossible for these firearms to have been destroyed, as Couric’s team claims.
For one thing, no agency in Arizona operates that swiftly. This appears to be simply a fantasy of left-wing gun hatred—instantaneous destruction of things they don’t like, as if pestilence is upon the land and authorities can somehow step in and simply eradicate it. Police don’t track and notify anyone of such actions.
As a practical matter, Arizona authorities gather firearms they receive, hold them in a property office, and through a long, deliberate court-involved process decide what the proper disposition of the goods should be. When firearms are in useable condition, they are very often recycled and used by the agency that received them. The Bushmaster rifle Couric’s team obtained, highly prized by police (though vilified in Couric’s report) is a candidate for salvation.
In this case, however, the relinquished guns are evidence in possible felony offenses, so it defies credulity and common sense to assume they were simply destroyed because Couric or her producer would like them to be, as they have claimed they are.
There’s much more at the link, but the long and short of it is that if Soechtig and her producer think that they’ve covered their tracks and had destroyed evidence of their crime, they are very sadly mistaken.
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