Two years ago, the mayor of Toledo, Ohio, made a solemn vow never to do business with a gun manufacturer or dealer that sold “assault weapons” to civilians.
Today, Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz has some egg on his face.
In 2018, following the mass murder at a Jewish synagogue in Pittsburgh, Kapszukiewicz told the residents of Toledo that his office would refuse to purchase firearms or ammunition from any company that did not meet a strict set of requirements.
“I am to the point where I am done. I’m done with the thoughts and prayers, tweets and the vacuous bromides coming from politicians, and the endless cycle of memorials and vigils,” he said at a press conference two years ago.
Kapszukiewicz developed six questions to determine whether a firearms dealer or manufacturer was worthy to sell its goods to the city. If a dealer failed any part of this six-part test, the mayor vowed to end the city’s relationship with that vendor.
- Do you manufacture assault weapons for civilian use?
- Do you sell assault weapons for civilian use?
- Which firearms does your company agree to not sell to civilians?
- Do you require your dealers to conduct background checks?
- Does your company have a plan in place to invest in gun and ammunition tracing technologies?
- Do you use, at a minimum, industry-best practices for inventory control and transactions?
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Of course, anyone with even a basic understanding of state and federal firearms law could see the ignorance of these questions. “Assault weapon,” for example, has never been consistently defined, so no company would be able to answer the first two questions. In addition, manufacturers don’t control whether dealers conduct background checks – those requirements are controlled by federal and state laws.
Kapszukiewicz soon got his dose of reality. According to a recent report from local Toledo news media, the city of Toledo still purchases “assault weapons” from a dealer that sells those firearms to civilians.
Vance Outdoors is the city’s primary weapons supplier, and according to a recently released copy of their questionnaire, they admitted to selling black rifles to the unwashed masses.
“‘Assault weapon’ is not a specific term, but yes, the company sells to civilians,” the company’s owner told the media.
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Local journalists asked Kapszukiewicz about his apparent hypocrisy, and he explained that he hasn’t been able to find a dealer that can pass his six-part test.
“No companies meet our standard,” he said.
“We do have to purchase the weapons for our police department from companies that we don’t believe are responsible,” Kapszukiewicz continued. “We have to do it. We have no other choice. We’re certainly not going to allow our police officers to go out there without the tools they need to succeed. We know we don’t have any alternatives right now. What we’re trying to do is create alternatives.”
It looks like Kapszukiewicz’s vow was nothing more than a PR stunt, but the mayor claims that Colt’s decision to suspend sales of AR-type rifles to civilians can be attributed to his activism.
That argument, of course, is even more ridiculous than his six-part test. Everyone in the firearms industry knew that Colt’s decision was an economic one – with the glut of low-cost AR-15 options, Colt couldn’t compete in the civilian market.
Only time will tell if Kapszukiewicz can find a gun dealer that passes his wokeness test. We aren’t holding our breath.
Am I the only one thinking the popo shouldn’t have “assault weapons” either.
Drive through toledo and see what decades of democrat leadership have done to a city that once supplied the arsenal of democracy that opposed and destroyed 2 evil empires. Pathetic
Keep re-electing the same Failures, Fools and Idiots over and over and expecting a different result is not the fault of the Failures, Fools and idiots, it’s the insanity of the ignorant continuing to commit liberalcide.
What an asshat!!
I’d like to clarify a frequently misstated nomenclature. The “assault weapon” does exist. It has a name: Sturmgewehr 44. It was a German infantry weapon used during World War 2. It used a shortened 8mm round, also known as the 7.92 X 33 “Kurtz”round. It was a fully automatic weapon. It derived its name from the leader of WW II Germany who concocted the name. It was the only named “assault weapon” I’ve ever found during multiple research quests.
Yes Virginia, there is an assault rifle. It was made in Germany during WW II. The name was created by the German leader as a mean of boosting morale.
He is an egit in action. Dimocrats never cease to amaze me with their ignorance or stupidity.
Wow, and I thought Connecticut was bad!!! Another knucklehead trying to do his best to undermine your 2nd amendment rights!!! He looks like another COMMUNIST!!!
Wow, and I thought Connecticut was bad!!! Another knucklehead trying to do his best to undermine your 2nd amendment rights!!!
That mayor looks like a real do-nothing, doughnut munching twerp…
Well, we know Fang Fang didn’t waste her time on this twit!
Too bad they don’t have “Likes” in this comment format. You would get thousands.
A cursory Google search of fangs
Images will show you she wasn’t very picky.i imagine if I wished id have a shot at that and im far from Chippendale material lol
Moral of this story…
” Never Vote For A Name You Can’t Pronounce ! ”
“Cap-suck-a-wicks” ??? Really ??? (Thant’s GOT to make a mark on your psyche…)
I’d change it to “JONES” or “SMITH” !!!
Bet he never gets delayed on nics checks,lol
It’s not like there’s any need for education or comprehension for a democrat to leverage firearms fearmongering. If they weren’t in charge of people, their laughable ignorance would be entertaining. I have a simple test. If they cannot tell me the difference between a clip and a magazine, their opinion is worse than worthless — it’s dangerous. It’s a simple test that only requires a simple google search, and if they have so little interest in a mean to violate the constitution and restrict people’s rights that they can’t cut and paste and use about 30 seconds to read, they have no business in government.
And a politician in NY once said that (paraphrase) ‘ Any gun that can hold 30 clips should be banned.’
The ‘clip-o-zine’.
I disagree. Specifically BECAUSE there is no such thing as an “assault weapon” – they are imaginary – there is no existing definition of them (even the military has no such definition… their only description defines “assault rifles(!)” which is certainly not the same thing), I could answer VERY honestly that I, as a retail dealer, do NOT sell imaginary assault weapons at all – to anyone, civilian or military. That answer is indeed the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
People still don’t get it. How are they going to stop firearms sales to criminals, and the black market? Basically this politician is trying to ban guns from good people.
I saw an article about intimidation of gun carrying protestors. Well if armed intimidation is needed to keep radical protestors in line, then so be it. If it will keep them from burning buildings, assaulting senior citizens, saving a shop owners life long business, stop from be attacked from behind, running over people, and cheating on elections, than I am all for it.
If just the appearance of a AR-15 stops all this. Then great.
China has asked for all Americans to be disarmed. Now why do you think that is? DA. Do we need to have the same thing that happened to Hong Kong happen here?
“We’re certainly not going to allow our police officers to go out there without the tools they need to succeed.”
It begs the question: What are they going out there and succeeding at that requires these tools?
You must be extremely stupid. By “succeed” it’s obvious this moronic self-promoting mayor meant that cops can defend themselves, if necessary, and make it home safely every night. You are too stupid to survive for long.
I don’t think you understood the comment since it was written at a higher than 8th grade level.
When Toledo’s Mayor, was elected the property tax assessor, years ago, his first action was to raise taxes. Being a licensed small business owner operating from home. (residential / commercial) I got blindsided with a tax base that doubled !! WTF resulting in Bankrupting me. Also being in a township I cannot vote in Toledo’s election!! Just another money grubbing self centered political IDIOT
Should be an easy thing to meet, if you apply the true meaning of the phrase, ‘Assault Weapon’ to the first 2. #3, OK, we won’t sell RPG’s and grenades, #4, a federal requirement, you moron, #5, all guns have SN’s, and the ATF knows how to track those when they need to, #6 Another ATF requirement, guns logged in when received, and logged out to a customer when sold, ammunition tracking, you want me to write down the name of the person who buys a box of ammo, OK. So, this entire list is written by a gun type, Federal Law, inventory tracking ignorant idiot who is only making points with like minded citizens.
Florida In the late 60’s, if I bought a box of .22 shorts, I had to write my name down on an ammo list. I guess my name from that Western Auto is sitting in some box somewhere, or maybe even a database. Sure was handy I bet, to have that info.
No firearms company should sell any firearm to any state or local government agency that restricts the right of the people to keep and bear arms.
I have yet to find a mayor from any big city who meets my standards.
…ahhh…another elected moron with a quest…there’s an endless bucket of them…
What is the proper nomenclator of an assault rifle? just what is an assault rifle?
What a jerk. Using the police force as a political tool.
Any elected public servant in any city, town, county or municipality in Ohio (or any city or state) who is not abiding by his or her oath of office, is operating outside of the law and should be arrested and tried accordingly. Period.
The problem with that is the problem with democracy. Majority rule allows politicians to follow the will of the majority that elected them, presumably because of their views, no matter how wrong you and I may think those views to be.
Last time I checked we still are a republic
We are a Representative Republic with Democratic Institutions.
That aside, the PEOPLE elect their Mayor in a democratic election (all eligible voters get to vote for or against the Candidate), so he/she IS the Representative.
Therefore Dan is correct, that Mayor will then Represent the views of those who elected them, not those who opposed them.
Half the electorates in this country shouldn’t be allowed to vote. Parasites, lifelong welfare recipients, felons, school dropouts, illiterates, etc. should have no say in guiding this country.
As much as I deplore racial/ethnic stereotyping, this mayor is the embodiment of a Polish joke.
Typical clueless idiot liberal. But I repeat myself…
Colt’s decision to cease AR sales to the public was short-lived.
““No companies meet our standard,” he said.” Read: “We are morons looking for a unicorn”.
Since there is no such thing as an “assault weapon,” the answer to questions 1 and 2 is automatically “no”