Uniparty Update: Phoenix City Council set to 'donate' hundreds of firearms to Ukraine's national police force

In a vexatious display of Uniparty politics, Republicans and Democrats on Phoenix's current city council came together and unanimously voted to "donate" a vague number of firearms to Ukraine's national police force.  A summary found in the abbreviated report of the Firearms Transfer Agreement, presented last week on June 28, reads:

The City has selected approximately 500–600 unclaimed firearms to transfer through Gruelle, a private company which provides export and import services. Gruelle will transfer to the National Police of Ukraine. Only 9mm, 45mm, 39mm and 12 gauge firearms will be sent. Firearms are unclaimed when there has been no owner contact after a thirty day notice, in which case the City can dispose of them.

Boy, oh, boy, do I have a lot of questions, but first, a crash course in ballistics.

The numbers above refer to the size of the ammunition (caliber) used in the firearms.  9mm and .45 (the round the summary mistakenly calls "45mm") are extremely common handgun rounds (.45 is a very heavy bullet, and significantly larger than a 9mm); "39mm" is likely the 7.62x39mm cartridge, which is one of the most prevalent rounds on the planet, as it is used in the AK-47 platform; and 12 gauge is a heavyweight shotgun.

First off, I'm highly suspicious that the reference to caliber in lieu of type of firearm was a deliberate attempt to mislead any prying public.  Citing caliber is common practice for gun enthusiasts, but for the general populace?  When career leeches like Joe Biden or Tennessee's Bill Lee stump for "commonsense" gun laws, do they notate caliber?  Or is the public "discussion" defined by buzzwords like "assault weapons" and "high-powered rifle"?  (Of course, those were rhetorical questions.)  Based on the calibers alone, one could reasonably assume these are the very kinds of firearms targeted by gun-grabbers, and in fact, the latest list of "unclaimed" firearms provided by the city is almost entirely composed of semi-automatic weapons.

If the State were not trying to hide anything, you'd think the council and the submitters of the firearms transfer request would be consistent and use the same language that routinely dominates the government's approach to the gun debate, and let the public know what "type" of weapons they plan to send to the Ukrainian government.  Now, it goes without saying that I disagree with classifying firearms as "assault weapons" or "high-powered rifles" because obviously, those terms are obnoxious examples of exploitative propaganda, but it highlights what I can only infer to be an intentional bid to cover over a hypocritical and scandalous act.  Otherwise, the summary of the report should read rather differently, perhaps informing Phoenix citizens that while the government seeks to strip Americans of the God-given right to self-defense, the council plans to send "assault weapons" and "high-powered rifles" to the notoriously corrupt national police force of Ukraine.  Not the best optics, wouldn't you say?

From where does the city get these firearms?  Well, the official summary notes that these are "unclaimed" guns, and per the city website, the protocol for "unclaimed property" is a public post on a "monthly basis" for the owners of said property to claim what they rightfully own — yet, when I click on the most recent firearms list, the last report was posted on February 27 of this year and notes that claim to ownership expires within 30 days of the posting.  What guns exactly are they sending?  Is there any accountability to make sure the rightful owners have had a chance to claim their property?

Next, state law asserts:

[I]f the property is a firearm, the agency shall sell the firearm to any business that is authorized to receive and dispose of the firearm under federal and state law and that shall sell the firearm to the public according to federal and state law, unless the firearm is otherwise prohibited from being sold under federal and state law.  A law enforcement agency may trade a firearm that it has retained to a federal firearms licensed business for ammunition, weapons, equipment or other materials to be exclusively used for law enforcement purposes.

Seems to me like "donating" unclaimed property is in violation of state law?  "Shall sell" or "may trade" is very different from "donation."  How would the council explain this apparent discrepancy?

Furthermore, has law enforcement conducted ballistics tests on these firearms to determine whether or not the weapons are linked to serious crimes?  For a police department that is chronically non-performing — less than two months ago, an ABC News report highlighted the force's "concerning" inability to process rape kits in a timely manner — I find the likelihood that proper investigative work has taken place seriously doubtful.  Phoenix, a city rife with cartel activity, is sending potential and serious criminal evidence out of the country?

Does the council intend to track these weapons, or is this fixing to be another Fast and Furious scandal?

We've already seen Department of Defense munitions sent to Ukraine appear on the black market.  Are there any measures in place to prevent the firearms from entering the hands of criminal syndicates?

The report claims that the financial impact of the ordinance would see "no funds expended" by city taxpayers.  So the private company Gruelle is covering the cost of shipping?  Or is the city lying?  "No funds expended" sounds like a SERE tactic, because while that may be true, the ordinance still costs the taxpayer: loss of funds in the public coffers, a diversion of resources to a "donation" scheme instead of the citizenry (like rape kits) is par to theft, and like all the transfers of wealth out of the country, this is a transfer of firearms, and one more instance of the robbing Peter (the people) to pay Paul (government cronies).

Lastly, where is the Republican Party?

Correction: An earlier version included a typo from the council report.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license, no attribution required.

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