Do Your Guns Have a Hidden Life?

[MTT TL]

I only ask because the fair and balanced coverage of the Washington Post conducted some investigative journalism this week. There is now a multi-article coverage of guns.

The Hidden Life of Guns

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/23/AR2010102302994.html?hpid=artslot

In this article we see how the anti's are shifting blame from the gun to gun shops for crime and killings.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which investigates gun trafficking and regulates the firearms industry, is hamstrung by the law, politics and bureaucracy. The agency still has the same number of agents it had three decades ago. It can take as long as eight years between inspections of gun stores. And even when inspectors turn up evidence of missing guns, they cannot compel a dealer to take inventory.

In Maryland, Realco towers over the other 350 handgun dealers in the state as a source of guns confiscated in the District and Prince George's County, the most violent jurisdictions in the area. Nearly one out of three guns The Post traced to Maryland dealers came from Realco. The rest were spread among other shops across the state.

The store is a paradox for law enforcement and politicians. Its owners say they scrupulously follow handgun laws. State and federal regulators have documented only minor problems in numerous inspections.

We could go round and round on the logic merry go round with this one but I am curious what the paradox is? Is it simply a failure in logic?

And we have the obligatory proposed solution:

"It shows a weakness in our system when a company like Realco can adhere to the law yet still be the source of so many crime guns. I can only imagine how much lower our violent-crime rate would be if Realco sold shoes instead of guns."

"I had an eye toward trying to take action," Ivey said. "The feedback we got was: They are doing it the way they are supposed to. They are following the letter of the law."

Asked about Realco, ATF spokeswoman Clare Weber said stores with greater numbers of traces are inspected more frequently.

"The number of traces that come back to a [gun dealer] is not a revocable offense if the dealer is found in compliance with record-keeping requirements," she said.

this is the article that explains why public tracing (defacto registration) is the answer:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...0/23/AR2010102302996.html?sid=ST2010102304311

The mandatory poll giving personification to guns:

http://views.washingtonpost.com/post-user-polls/2010/10/are-gun-stores-responsible-for-crime.html

Which, apparently 53% of the respondents believe that gun stores are responsible for crime. Kind of ironic.... since it is the Washington Post and there is not a single gun store in Washington...... therefore Washington should be 100% crime free.

 

[44 AMP]

The paradox is....

That the store is following the law, and yet the guns wind up in criminal hands, and in "gun free" DC.

The whole flaw in their logic is that they believe that if gun dealers followed "the law" that there would be no guns in the hands of criminals, and hence, no crime.

They are upset that since the dealers are following the "letter of the law" they cannot be punished for the moral "crime" of selling guns. They would love to be able to punish dealers for the misdeends of others, since punishing those actually responsible doesn't fit their world view of social justice.

If there were no gun stores in Maryland or Virginia, they think there would be no guns in DC. Reality is, that as long as guns are available in the continental US, legally or illegally, criminals will get their hands on them, and have them in whatever jusridiction they inhabit, regardless of the law. Thats why we call them criminals. Duh!

 

[ClayInTx]

If it was illegal for a to have a gun of any kind in the USA there would be no crime.

We need to take a lesson from the drug laws. It’s illegal to possess a “controlled substance” in the USA and we have no drug problem because that takes care of it.
:barf:

 

[Sefner]

I question if they are making an error in percentages and cause-and-effect...

If this particular gun store is the most popular gun store in the state for whatever reason, then they sell the most guns, so it must be that, on average, more guns will be "traced" to this store.

Also, if this store is in a bad part of town, then the people buying guns from the store are more likely to commit crimes. This has nothing to do with the store.

Also, maybe this is one of the only stores that deals in lower-cost handguns, the type normally used in crimes. This again would also give it a higher "trace" percentage.

I also chuckled when I read how they think that if Realco was selling shoes instead of guns there would be a lower crime rate. Because that makes total sense

 

[Bud Helms]

... for a to have a gun ...

?????

 

[DaleA]

From the article:

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives --- is hamstrung by the law, politics and bureaucracy.

Well, I guess I kind of WOULD like them to follow the law because, well, because it’s the LAW.

It’s incredible. I clearly got the message from the reporter that following the law should not protect the gun dealer from legal action.

I think 44 AMP got it right when he said:

They would love to be able to punish dealers for the misdeeds of others, since punishing those actually responsible doesn't fit their world view of social justice.

I think their “world view of social justice” would mean they could take legal action against folk they didn’t like just because they didn’t like them and never mind if they hadn’t broken any laws.

 

[griz]

I can only imagine how much lower our violent-crime rate would be if Realco sold shoes instead of guns.

We can all dream. I can only imagine going in to a shoe store and finding out they only sold guns

 

[BlueTrain]

I have been led to believe that only honest people bought guns and the bad guys always stole them because they were criminals, I assume from birth.

 

[woodguru]

I like the automobile argument, a lot of people die because of car accidents, we don't try to make them or their sales illegal.

Considerable numbers of felons have and use guns, I'm preaching to the choir, sorry.

 

[Gary L. Griffiths]

Reality is, that as long as guns are available in the continental US, legally or illegally, criminals will get their hands on them

Reality is, that as long as guns are available in the world, legally or illegally, criminals will get their hands on them

There. Fixed it for ya!

 

[BlueTrain]

True, lots of people have automobile accidents, especially 16 and 17 year old drivers. We somehow try to fix that by raising the drinking age to 21 (I am astonished to think a 16 year old might drink!). The more effective solution would be to raise the legal age to get a driver's license. Not saying that has any application to having firearms but it's just a thought.

 

[Sefner]

True, lots of people have automobile accidents, especially 16 and 17 year old drivers. We somehow try to fix that by raising the drinking age to 21 (I am astonished to think a 16 year old might drink!). The more effective solution would be to raise the legal age to get a driver's license. Not saying that has any application to having firearms but it's just a thought.

This is a perfect argument that says that control is ineffective. How many people drive without licenses? Have you ever watched COPS? Half the criminals that flee from a routine traffic stop do so because they are driving without a license (or their license is suspended). Driving without a license is an extremely common offense. Just like gun control, if you take away someone's "license" to do something, criminals will still do it, that's what makes them criminals.

Adding restrictions like age, training, locale, type of gun, number of rounds in a magazine, etc etc, will not fix anything except to take away the rights of people who follow laws (non-criminals by definition).

 

[MTT TL]

They are upset that since the dealers are following the "letter of the law" they cannot be punished for the moral "crime" of selling guns. They would love to be able to punish dealers for the misdeeds of others, since punishing those actually responsible doesn't fit their world view of social justice.

That is it in a nutshell really.

They will keep trying to change, stretch and corrupt the law until it fits into their personal world POV. It is up to us not to let them.

 

[Tom Servo]

Do Your Guns Have a Hidden Life?

I don't know. Lord knows what they get up to when I'm not home to watch them. As long as the house is in one piece at the end of the day, I don't question it.

 

[woodguru]

I had a Colt pocket model .380 that was the favored gangster gun. I got it from a friend who was quite a political player in construction (sand), who got it from someone who said it was used by a union enforcer on the San Francisco peninsula who had gotten it from another mob type. I always wondered what that gun had seen and done, it had been carried in a pocket for probably decades as it had the bluing worn but in a beautifully polished way.

Those guns have one of the greatest feeling natural pointability factors of just about any gun I've ever held. They feel like you don't have to use the sights to point and hit.

 

[Wik]

We should start punishing car dealerships because people are driving drunk.

 

[hardworker]

I've got a 1939 Nagant revolver. Sometimes I'm curious as to how many POWs and deserters got to meet this particular revolver.

 

[markj]

A few years ago I found one of my guns was stealing from me. It would wait till the mailman brought my paycheck, take it and go to the bank disguised as me and cash it. I found out when I looked in the gun safe, found lots of new grips, some new rounds and a leather holster.......

 

[woodguru]

The worst offenders are those AR platform rifles that go tacti-cool on you, they can steal thousands for their selfish selves. That's why I refuse to ride that slippery slope.

 

[Tom Servo]

I've got a 1939 Nagant revolver. Sometimes I'm curious as to how many POWs and deserters got to meet this particular revolver.

I've got a S&W revolver that's stamped "LASD" for L.A. Sheriff's Department. It was issued in 1975. It has some marks on the side that look strangely like tooth-marks.

I sometimes wonder if that means what I suspect it does.