« Thoughts on an "evolving constitution" | Main | Long term thoughts on the gun issue »

CBS, .50 cals, and the strange witness

The present (Aug. 10) issue of Gun Week has an interesting headline story by Dave Workman. Last month CBS ran a hit piece on .50 BMG rifles, and it used as a major witness a fellow named Krasniqi (first name variously spelled Florin or Florim), who claimed he'd purchased scores of .50s and run them to Albanians fighting in Kosovo. He was also featured in a PBS broadcast shortly after the CBS piece. (One review of the PBS piece notes, "Though Krasniqi clearly benefited from lax gun laws, one reason he agreed to the film was to expose them. "He thinks gun laws are ridiculous in this country," Quirijns said."

Workman looked into the fellow's background and eventually came across the Federal Elections Commission records of political contributions. Strangely, for a supposed gun-runner, he contributed:

$3000 to John Kerry (exceeding the legal max; they had to send $1000 back);
$1000 to Rep. Tom Lantos;
Several thousand to Jerrold Nagler, Eliot Engel, John McCain, etc.

I went to the FEC contributors search page and it checks out. Search for "Krasniqi." You're looking for a guy in Brooklyn, zip code 11228 (He reports his employer as several businesses).

I could be wrong, but it looks to me as if he gave $4000 to Kerry and had $1000 refunded. Total contributions are over $20,000.

Might we have a "ringer" here? As a general rule, if you're engaged in illegal international arms trafficking, publicity is NOT a good thing. But this guy is featured (with his own cooperation) in a documentary film, 60 Minutes, a book, a NY newspaper article, and at least one webpage (with his pic, taken by a family member).

· contemporary issues