James O'Keefe
Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe, who recently was denied permission to purchase a shotgun by the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System, says that mistake has been corrected.
WND reported recently when the investigative reporter, known for his undercover probes exposing liberal bias and corruption, filed a lawsuit against the FBI, claiming the bureau wrongly placed his name on a federal watch list that barred him from purchasing a firearm.
O'Keefe published a video showing him trying to buy a gun at gun stores in New York and being denied after a background check.
The lawsuit argued he "has never been convicted of a felony or any other crime punishable by more than one year imprisonment."
"Despite this, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has illegally place Mr. O'Keefe on a federal watch list designed to preclude convicted felons from purchasing firearms by falsely claiming Mr. O'Keefe has in fact been convicted of a felony and has subsequently repeatedly, wrongfully, and without justification denied Mr. O'Keefe the ability to purchase a firearm," the complaint states.
The latest Project Veritas video:
Now he is confirming the NICS status has been altered, with the FBI reversing course on its decision to prohibit his purchase.
"This is a victory for all Americans. No law-abiding citizen should be wrongfully denied the basic right to bear arms," said O’Keefe. "Throughout this ordeal, I have learned from too many people about the hassles regular Americans have gone through just to exercise their right to keep and bear arms."
He continued, "It should not be so difficult to exercise a right the Constitution says should not be infringed."
Brian Olesen, the owner of Empire Army Navy, said it was the first time he recalled that a negative ruling had been reversed.
"This was not a mistake,” said Richard “Dick” Heller, whose successful 2008 lawsuit overturned the District of Columbia’s handgun ban and kicked off the current revival of gun rights across the country. “I don’t think the FBI does anything by accident.”
The veteran of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division said he strongly urges O’Keefe to find the people in the FBI responsible for stripping him of his constitutionally protected gun rights and to sue them individually as well for their infringement of his civil rights.
“James O’Keefe is a prominent figure, so hopefully his case will shed light on what the FBI is doing to other people, too and maybe they’ll be forced to stop it,” he said.
O'Keefe had been flagged by the FBI as ineligible to purchase firearms because he was falsely described in the database as a felon.
That was incorrect.
"The FBI removal from NICS is effectively an admission that he shouldn’t have been there to begin with, the lawsuit will continue in order to find out who placed James on the list and why he was kept on the list wrongly for seven years,” his lawyer said.
BREAKING: I have just filed a lawsuit against the @FBI for infringing upon my 2nd Amendment Right to Bear Arms.
They have erroneously put me on the Federal NICS Background Check System as a convicted felon.
The problem? I am NOT a convicted felon.#WeHaveRights pic.twitter.com/MBHLhO333I
— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) August 6, 2020
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