OAKS, PENNSYLVANIA –-(Ammoland.com)- Did NBC News and Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s office break both federal, state, and local laws during their recent NBC Nightly News story on JSD Supply?
Many people in the gun community are asking if any laws were broken after the story ran on the NBC Nightly News. When the hit piece was filmed, the news organization and the Pennsylvania AG’s office appeared to have broken multiple laws to produce their sensationalized hit piece on Americans building guns at home.
Now gun rights advocates are demanding answers.
NBC News did a hidden camera investigation at an Eagle Shows gun show in Oaks, Pennsylvania. Eagle Shows is owned by Jordan Vinroe, who also owns JSD Supply. JSD Supply is one of the country’s largest 80% firearms retailers. Last fall, JSD Supply was banned from the gun shows due to pressure from the AG’s office and others. Vinroe turned around and purchased Eagle Shows and not only let sellers of unfinished firearms back into the show, but he also started holding classes where buyers could learn how to finish their products into fully working Firearms.
An Amateur Hit Job on “Ghost Guns”
The NBC reporter, Vaughn Hillyard, entered the Oaks Gun Show with a hidden camera and purchased two P80 kits from JSD Supply. After buying the kits, the NBC news crew ambushed JSD Supply’s Jordan Vinroe outside the show. Ambush interviews are used to catch people off guard and get interviews with subjects you believe wouldn’t grant one through normal channels.
“The NBC interview was not something I was expecting. We do our best to educate the public on their rights to produce their own firearm for their own use,” Vinroe said. “We want to make sure that the tradition of gun making can last for many more generations. News pieces that imply someone else has done the manufacturing for you are something that we do not endorse. For a tradition that is older than our country’s founding, we need the correct and legal information being published.”
NBC selectively edited Vinroe’s 13-minute interview into a clip that ran only for seconds. NBC edited to make it look like Vinroe was comparing homemade firearms to lawn chairs. Vinroe explained that people are allowed to use cash to buy unfinished 80% receivers, and the process is no different from buying any other products.
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NBC’s Vaughn Hillyard took the kits to Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s office and asked them to complete the P80s Pistol for them.
Conveniently for anyone willing to hold them accountable the crack team at NBC Nightly News led by Vaughn Hillyard, documented their crimes on film.
Our Latest Story:
A look at easy-to-acquire ghost gun kits that can be built into firearms in 30 mins.
A new ATF rule re-classifying these kits as firearms is pending, but until then, the market is burgeoning as # of them recovered at crime scenes jumps.pic.twitter.com/9FRmOnyI1N https://t.co/2K00kUgWWS
— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) March 18, 2022
An Ilegal Firearms Transfer
The news crew transferred two complete “readily convertible” kits out of the parts they purchased separately at the show. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) previously viewed “buy, build, shoot” kits as readily convertible and, therefore, a firearm. The ATF even raided a company over the kits.
If the ATF still keeps to that definition, Hillyard, an out-of-state resident, transferred two “readily convertible” firearms (pistols) kits illegally to the Pennsylvania AG’s employees to complete. There is not an exception in the law for any AG’s “special agents,” which means that the agents must obey all laws.
By all appearances, it looks pretty clear that the AG’s office has taken possession of two firearms illegally!
But potential crimes do not end there. AmmoLand News believes that the guns might have been completed in Philadelphia. Philadelphia Ordinance – Chapter 10-2002 of The Philadelphia Code makes it Illegal to “convert an unfinished frame or receiver into a finished firearm.”
The Philadelphia ordinance is in some legal dispute and currently has a stay of enforcement, but the AG’s office supports the rule. Gun Owners of America is currently suing over the draconian regulation.
It’s a Crime to Build Ghost Guns for Others
It is also illegal to complete a so-called “ghost gun” for someone else. Recently the ATF inquired into a build class held by Rob Pincus to make sure no one was completing the guns for anyone else. The agent informed Pincus that the person building the firearm could not borrow tools or have someone help them complete the frame until it reached the stage where it would be considered a firearm.
A Second Illegal Firearms Transfer
Pennsylvania Statutes § 6111(b)(2) requires a transfer through an FFL and the transferee’s background to be run through PICS (PA equivalent of NICS). After the guns were completed, if the AG’s office returned the firearms to Hillyard, then the AG’s office would be breaking state law.
3rd Federal Crime
Also, if the AG’s office returned the guns to NBC reporter Vaughn Hillyard, an apparent resident of another state, then the AG’s office would be violating State & Federal law by transferring the firearm to an out-of-state resident, and Vaughn Hillyard and the NBC team would be guilty of multiple Federal Felonies and gun crimes.
Gun Owners of America weighed in confirming and identifying these possible crimes:
- Pennsylvania Statutes: § 6111(b)(2) requires FFL and a PICS (like a NICS check)
“no seller shall deliver a firearm to the purchaser thereof until the provisions of this section have been
satisfied, and, when delivered, the firearm shall be securely wrapped and shall be unloaded.” (requires
FFL and 4473) - 18 USC 922(a)(3) It is illegal to sell a handgun to a resident of another state without first
going through an FFL in the person’s home state. - Conspiracy to violate PA firearms laws and federal law
GOA is looking into all legal actions that can be taken to ensure the anti-gun side is held to the same standard as law-abiding gun owners.
As we have seen time and again, when hypocritical blue-check reporters and politically appointed agents of the state break the laws, that the everyday citizen strictly follows, they never have to pay the consequences for their actions. Gun owners skeptically believe that Hillyard and the PA AG’s office WILL get away with their crimes. What do you think? Should state and federal laws apply to them or will they get a pass?
NBC News, Vaughn Hillyard, the PA AG’s Office, the ATF and the United States Attorney’s office for the Distric of PA, did not return AmmoLand New’s request for comment.
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
Here is some good news that NBC will not report:
“SEAN MURPHY
Thu, March 24, 2022, 1:13 PM
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Democrat Abby Broyles, who drew national attention after admitting she blacked out at a sleepover for middle-school aged girls and vomited in a clothes hamper, announced Thursday she’s dropping out of the race for Oklahoma’s 5th Congressional District.
Broyles, 32, said in a statement that she is receiving treatment for anxiety and alcohol dependency … “
I don’t watch the network news at all. They’re all in the tank for the Democrats.
Yeah, everything they say … the opposite is true! Just my rule of thumb.
Me too neither. I killed my TeeVee set back in 1972 and have not missed it for more than three nanoseconds total since.
In their Search to create Slaves they commit Felonies.
control ,not create, they already believe we are slaves
Haven’t got time for comment, so I am just up voting you.
Push this all the way. Send Josh Shapiro to prison. I am still pissed about Piers Morgan not being prosecuted for waving around a 30 mag on TV in his DC studio in violation of DCs mag ban years ago. It’s past time that the laws enforced against us normal citizens get enforced against the media and government officials too.
rules for thee not for me
NBC=Nothing But Crap.
Similar Federal and State laws were broken some years ago by a famous female Television personality and her assistant as well as an Attorney in Arizona and Colorado! It was swept under the preverbal rug, and nothing ever came of it! Hypocritical, Bovine, Scatology!
A nation of laws?
Where?
Two classes of society. “us” and “them”. Theirs is a small tight club, and WE ain’t in it.
They do it because we allow it.
Return the courtesy to these “news people” and State “representative” EXACTLY as they would do to an INDIVIDUAL AMERICAN CITIZEN! Hold them to the EXACT LAWS they would apply to an Individual! NO EXCUSES, NO EXCEPTIONS!
Now that the ATF KNOWS of the infractions of the laws, lets see IF they apply the laws EQUALLY and JUDICIOUSLY!
OH YES! Almost forgot the NON-PROSECUTION of the ILLEGAL GUN ACTIONS within the DemoKKKratic Biden family. TWO TIER JUDICIAL SYSTEM?!?
I love it when “reporters” outsmart themselves.
this is where smart and intelligent, they can read the propaganda like a good parrot ,they have no understanding of what they have read means simpletons
at least two, possibly more
“Apply the laws EQUALLY and JUDICIOUSLY”. Surely you jest. This is jo biden’s amerika. Equal justice is a thing of the past. FJB/FKH
“As we have seen time and again, when hypocritical blue-check reporters and politically appointed agents of the state break the laws, that the everyday citizen strictly follows, they never have to pay the consequences for their actions.”
Worse yet, they always use the “look what we were able to do” argument to argue that we need more laws, oblivious to the fact that “what they did” already broke numerous laws.
You are being facetious.
The Barney Fifes of the world. There must be a way to screen them out.
Would have be based on the idea that anyone who really, really wants the job is unfit for the job.
power hungry mental defectives?
Yes, hardly Barney Fifes.
A certain percentage are roid-raging statists who foam at the mouth to impose their will on “civilians” who don’t appear to respect their perceived authority.
There are many hundreds of videos where they are recorded (and even record themselves) in action. In the vast majority of cases, there are other enforcers present who do nothing or who back them up. Back at the station, their “brotherhood” covers for them in many instances.
Hundreds? per year you mean. There at least 5 per week in south florida, would think the video would put them on best behavior,not so
Over the years government officials have managed to make themselves a highly paid protected class. I believe it happened when Congress enabled
itself to vote it’s own pay raises and deficit spending with no one to say this is wrong.
Here’s Mark Kelly committing a NY felony in the presence of the then Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. It is illegal to handle a handgun without a NY permit.
The gun show management should have thrown these 3 idiots out on their asses; probably resulting in a head injury.
Arrest David Gregory of “Meet The Press” for possessing an illegal 30-round magazine in D.C. on TV no less.
I should think Mr. Vinroe has cause of action agasint NBC and their stooges for defamation invasion of privacy, etc. That was a PRIVATE venue, these guys came in under false pretenses, burned some tape, then went back home and made that tape say what was not said in front of the cameras. This Hillyard or whatever creep needs to feel the sting of the law, right in his rear pocket where he keeps his money poke.
They will go after JSD again and make this look like an undercover operation. That is how they will “justify” all the laws they broke. Besides that, there isn’t a state or Federal prosecutor with the courage to prosecute them.
Ok, bear with me… After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, they could have moved on to the west coast with only 3 carriers to stop them but they didn’t because, I believe it was Yamamoto, knew that they would be stopped by Americans with a “rifle behind every blade of grass,”, right?? One has to wonder WHY our government would want to take away that very important advantage / deterrent? This is even more important since the Russian invasion of Ukraine prompted the Ukraine government to distribute over 10,000 AK-47s to their citizens to fight Putin’s troops just a… Read more »
“No guns, no freedom. Know guns, know freedom.”
It appears the Biden administration does not want Ukraine to win the war. Could it be the Biden crime family made a deal with Putin?
he and hunter and obummer
kool-aid anyone
Dredd was all over the map, but I’ll support the assertion that our government clearly wants the American people to be disarmed and therefore helpless. In short, they want to do things to us that would otherwise get them shot! As for ET’s and UFO’s, if an extraterrestrial race capable of interstellar travel existed, they would be so technologically advanced and smarter than the highest-IQ humans, that we would be like insects to them, either ignored or swatted away. And if they did ‘swat us’, our extinction would be effortless on their part that we’d never have a chance, with… Read more »
BUT, what if the ETs were a lot more civilized than we are? Able to do things that we cannot, therefore more advanced, remember?
What if they are far enough beyond us that they no longer desire to “swat” things different from themselves? That quite changes the concept, doesn’t it? It really only requires understanding that “beyond us” means exactly that. NOT like us… but beyond us.
In a universe of infinite probabilities, such scenarios certainly could apply. A malevolent ET species could be just as probable as a ‘civilized’ and ‘enlightened’ one.
As a Christian, I subscribe to the notion that Earth is a “quarantine planet” and why no one visits us has to do with our “contamination with sin and also why we cannot detect life beyond our own system (and explains why we’ve NEVER had contact with anyone else).
But short of Jesus showing up with a cavalry of 16 billion angels, I’ll stick to peaceful but armed vigilance in defense of liberty.
Not a drop. My personal conclusion is that “UFO” and “extra-terrestrial” activity are actually demonic activity. It’s all about deceit, and mankind looking for revelation and salvation in the wrong places.
It is not just you. Biden even spills it when he talks about the world shifting and a new world order. There is still time to get ready. Who is it here that always says “Arm up and carry on”.
Personally, I think that when aliens drive past our planet they lock the doors and keep moving. They know if they landed the Chinese would eat them.
Or they become social media billionaires.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiudBq7z8wk
Most humorous!
Yeah, like anything will ever come out of this. Joshie is gonna be the next gubner of PA. God help us.
So how many decades will the ATF sentence these blatant gun law ignoring anti gunners to, for their gun crimes?
Burn them a new one I say. 2 down, millions to go.
NBC = Slime Bags that are ignorant
NBC has done it before, they have no ethics or morals.
Welcome to the site.
“The agent informed Pincus that the person building the firearm could not borrow tools or have someone help them complete the frame until it reached the stage where it would be considered a firearm.” You can’t borrow tools ?! Mike: Hey Joe, can I borrow your router for the weekend. Joe: Sure Mike, here you go. Mike (an undercover ATF agent): Joe, you are under arrest for loaning tools to a person finishing an 80% lower. You have the right to…. Joe: WTH???? …many months and $$ later… Judge: Mr. Joe, I hope you use your 20 years in federal… Read more »
How does NBC stay in business?
Our tax dollars.
Regular Soros/far left infusions… Same thing that keeps Josh Shapiro in office.
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2022/03/25/us-government-paid-media-to-promote-vaccines.aspx?cid_source=gab&cid_medium=social&cid_content=mercola&cid=nonlead1_20220325
Any organization fighting for our 2A rights should take note, the best way to increase membership and donations for their cause would be to FILE LAWSUITS.
Put your money where your mouth is!
Law suits aren’t free. They eat up finances very quickly and drag on for years.
The phrase “Talk is cheap” does not apply to lawyers.
Yes that’s why my comment was aimed at the likes of GOA etc.
If everything the AG and NBC did was illegal then please sue the crap out of them!!!!!! They need to be taught that this is a 2 way street not their way or no way…..these leftist, democratic jerks need a taste of their own medicine
I agree with your post Dutch. It begs the questions: Who will file and follow through with the suit? Who will pay those legal fees?
We don’t have billionaires on our side with deep pockets.
problem is the people with the power to do something will not , a judge would throw out any case you could bring, so it does not matter until a leo will arrest them or a grand jury will indite them they will get away with whatever criminal actions
A couple of years ago, here in Virginia, we has a State Legislator video herself cutting up her husband’s AR-15, in the process she created a short barreled rifle. Do you think anything came of that?……… Nope, nothing, nada. Never happened. But just you try such and see how fast they can ship you up river.
https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/local/mycity/virginia-beach/congressional-candidate-cuts-apart-ar-15-draws-criticism-from-nra-trolls/291-526898428
I am as rabid a foaming-at-the-mouth pro-2A conservative gun nut as you will ever meet, but most of these “crimes”, as laid out, are a stretch.
Just saw these over on reddit. Gonna have to find the template…
https://www.reddit.com/r/blursedimages/comments/to5xah/blursed_sights/
Weak and whiney. There’s nothing illegal about transferring contraband to any law enforcement organization, state or federal, for action.
Sure thing, Agent.
That is not quite true: 1.Generally, if you turn in some illegal thing, the authorities are going to want to know how you came to posses it; 2. in this specific instance they are not just engaging in an innocent turn in.
As a New Jersey resident, who can only envy Pennsylvania residents for their freer gun rights, I hope this revelation doesn’t lead to restrictions for them. However, there might be a solution for the issue of “self made firearms”. Since guns, contrary to the presumptions of many, are legal products, why not require self builders to engrave serial numbers into the frames and barrels of guns and submit a form to an FFL dealer. Of course, this will horrify anti-gunners (and some 2A absolutists), but at least this quest allows the builder legal ownership. Too, it protects the owner from… Read more »
Surrender no ground. Ever.
Absolutely right. THEY are after a nationwide universal gun REGISTRY. Forcng we who might make our own at home (I make lots ofother stuff most folks would never dream of making, but that’ their problem, right?) to invent a number, put it on the item, then “register” it with ATF? I’ve already got guns wiht numbers on them the feds don’t even know existed.. purchased legally whitin the United States. Are they barmy enough to think I am goig to report THEM? Yeah, and I gots me a chikkin can fly to the moon and back in two seeks, all… Read more »
Whaaattttt! I am sure that your intentions are good, but brother, you have the exact same “gun rights” as every other American citizen. Your Rights are being infringed more by your state government. I would encourage you to find a way to shrug off your oppressors.
As to requiring builders of fire arms, industrial or at home, can you find that anywhere in the Second Amendment or the rest of the Constitution?
Forgive me if I sound a bit sharp, I don’t mean to be.
WB; I’m sure there are people who don’t comprehend what the problem is with this comment. As it currently stands the BATFE “suggests” that you permanently affix a serial number of your own to any privately made firearms. I “suggest” that they can kiss my arse! There is no good that can come of this. There is no “law” (at least in Arkansas) that I have to do this, therefore I’m not going to assist them in making myself a “future felon”. As far as sounding a bit sharp – some children need to be spoken to tersely in order… Read more »
Roger that.
a good part of how we GOT into this pickle is that far too few have stood up and “been sharp” as they have steamroled over ur rights, ever since about 1789 or so. Our forefathers fought and died to put gummit back into its rightful (small) box. Its been squirming, squalling, screaming, silently stalking, and anything else they think it will take to open up the box again and escape, the better to control us.
Just say NO.
No one in America wanted a far away central government, so the Continental Congress created and the former colonies ratified the Articles of Confederation. There were a few minor problems so the Confederation Congress invited the states to have a convention, for the purpose of making a few amendments.
The delegates through out the Articles of Confederation, entirely, and instituted a centralized, and supposedly limited, government.
The employees of that central government have been increasing their power and reducing Rights since that day.
Please see “The Quartet” Joseph Ellis.
That is a very graphic image you paint.