Milk-Carton Tom doesn't like the fact that criminals use guns.
So he's asking for legislation from the State.
Mayor Tom Barrett called on the state Legislature to pass new laws to require that all gun sales be subject to background checks; prohibit anyone under 21 from owning a handgun; and close the so-called "gun show loophole."
When he says "[subject] ALL gun sales to background checks," he means that non-dealers (that is, Joe Q. Public) will have to run a check on someone before selling them a gun. Of course, BATF's NICS system is not available to Joe Q. Public, nor is the State's system.
So Tommy is (in effect) forcing Joe Q. Public to sell his gun to a dealer, not to his son, or nephew, or daughter--or at the very least, forcing Joe to pay a gun dealer for running a NICS-check.
But here's the line which is most interesting:
"Many times guns are traced back to an owner who says, 'I sold it at a gun show,' and the investigation stalls."
Really, Mr. Mayor? Really?
It's been demonstrated that the "gun show loophole" is a straw man; here's a brief rundown of the facts:
An NIJ study released in December 1997 said only 2 percent of criminal guns came from gun shows.
A study of youthful offenders in Michigan, presented at a meeting of the American Society of Criminology, found that only 3 percent had acquired their last handgun at a gun show--and many of the purchases were made by "straw purchasers" (i.e., legal gun buyers illegally acting as surrogates for criminals).
A 1997 report by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics on federal firearms offenders said only 1.7 percent of crime guns are acquired at gun shows.
According to a report issued by the educational arm of Handgun Control, only two of 48 major city police chiefs said that gun show sales were an important problem in their city.
The Mayor of Milwaukee is using verbal sleight-of-hand. He says that the last registered owner claims to have sold the gun at a "gun show."
But that's not the same as saying that the guns were purchased BY THE CRIMINAL at a "gun show."
A curious press might have followed up on that statement.
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2 comments:
Watching someone like you give advice about security after supporting the Iraq-war disaster is a little like watching the Washington Nationals lecture the Red Sox about winning. It is funny that you insult a guy as MIA and then talk about what he is doing for two pages. I guess that poor reasoning goes with the territory on this blog.
Have you any thoughts which are coherent, Anony?
TommeeTippee shows up twice in three weeks, to rant about "Guns" and "It's Bush's Fault." So when he actually speaks, he doesn't address the problem--he just tries, lamely, to politicize.
For the prior 12 months, he's been MIA.
He needs advice of ANY kind. Happy to oblige him.
Free of charge, too.
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