Pay No Attention...

Pay no attention to the story behind the headline…unless you want to understand what really happened.

Take a look at the headline of this story run by CNN yesterday:

Screen shot from CNN.com

What's really interesting here is that if you only read the headline, you'd think he was being charged for providing the magazine and body armor to the shooter. And you’d be wrong.

If you go on and read the article...the entire article...you find that what he was charged with was basically falsifying the ATF Form 4473 he completed in order to purchase a pistol. The pistol in question belonged to the friend and was not used by the shooter in the Dayton attack. But when he filled out the 4473 at the time of purchase, he checked the "no" box next to the question which asks if the purchaser is a regular user of marijuana...which he freely admitted to investigators that he was. That's illegal, and that’s why he was charged…not because he gave armor and a magazine to the Dayton murderer. That isn’t illegal.

From ATF Form 4473.

The friend cooperated with investigators, and although he admitted helping the shooter build the pistol used in the attack and providing the armor and magazine, he states that he was unaware of his plans to murder. The charges may have stemmed from the investigation, but were otherwise unrelated to the Dayton murders...despite what the headline would have you believe.

Pay no attention to the story behind that headline…