Conservative journalist James O’Keefe, who famously took down ACORN and works to expose liberal bias in the media and in government, is suing the FBI after he was reportedly banned from purchasing firearms.
O’Keefe released a video through his Project Veritas social media pages Thursday demonstrating his difficulty in obtaining a firearm at a number of New York gun stores.
“BREAKING: James O’Keefe has been DENIED his Constitutional right to bear arms,” Project Veritas wrote on Facebook.
The problem, according to O’Keefe, is not that he attempted to exercise his Second Amendment right in a blue state such as New York.
BREAKING: I have been DENIED my Constitutional right to bear arms. The @FBI has erroneously put me on the NICS Background Check System as a convicted felon.
“Are you James O’Keefe?”
“The FBI has you on some list…”#WeHaveRights pic.twitter.com/DBYHO50tNm
— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) August 6, 2020
The issue for O’Keefe is that he appears to have been put on a list of persons banned by the FBI from buying guns.
The journalist and conservative activist demonstrated in a short video what happens to him when he attempts to buy a gun.
The footage reveals that the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, flags him, telling gun dealers they are barred from selling him a gun.
O’Keefe encountered the issue at a number of stores.
“They denied you,” one gun dealer told O’Keefe.
In another store in another town, he is told, “Sorry, you were denied.”
In yet another New York state gun shop, O’Keefe is informed of yet another denial of his constitutional rights.
Of course, he had the sympathy of gun proprietors, but their approval of his work was not enough to override the FBI.
One gun seller told O’Keefe: “You probably have a lawsuit on your hands.”
Indeed, O’Keefe said in the video that he and his attorney planned to sue the FBI to reinstate his rights.
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“I’m on some type of federal list,” he said. “Apparently, the FBI has erroneously put me on a NICS background check system as a convicted felon.”
“The problem: I’m not a convicted felon,” O’Keefe added.
O’Keefe was infamously arrested in 2010 in Louisiana for conducting an undercover investigation of then-Sen. Mary Landrieu, wherein he intended to investigate a complaint that the Democratic lawmaker’s office was ignoring phone calls from her constituents.
O’Keefe plead guilty to entering federal property under false pretenses, and received a sentence of community service, a fine and probation, The Times-Picayune reported.
The legal dustup does not make O’Keefe a felon — he was convicted of a misdemeanor, not a felony — and O’Keefe intends to force the hand of the federal government to reinstate his rights.
O’Keefe described the 2010 case as an “unjust prosecution.”
“I’m going to file a lawsuit in federal court to have my name taken off of this list, and I’m going to get my constitutional rights restored,” he said in the video.
After releasing the video, O’Keefe announced on Twitter that he had indeed filed a lawsuit:
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
The lawsuit — which seeks to have O’Keefe’s name taken off the list of people banned from buying a gun, as well as compensatory and punitive damages — lists the FBI and the United States government as defendants.
