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IN:Close gun sale loopholes
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Close gun sale loopholes
Indiana should tighten regulations for sales at gun shows and designate the FBI instead of the overworked state police to handle background checks on handguns under the federal Brady Law.
Current loopholes appear to have contributed significantly to the state's dismaying eighth-place ranking in guns traced back to purchases in other states after their use in crimes. A report by Americans for Gun Safety found 1,684 used in crimes outside of Indiana were initially purchased in the Hoosier state. Ohio ranked seventh, with 1,697 guns involved in crimes committed elsewhere. The rankings are based on data obtained from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Contrary to the group's assertions, lax law enforcement is not the main reason for Indiana's high ranking. The problems appear to have more to do with defects in the state's regulatory structure and processes than a lack of zeal among police and prosecutors.
The Brady Law requires criminal background checks for those buying firearms from licensed gun dealers. But the state has left a gaping loophole by allowing sales of personal firearms owned by free-lance sellers, including those at gun shows, to remain unregulated.
The statistics strengthen arguments for closing the gun show loophole. Firearms acquired through private transactions at gun shows sometimes are resold in other states to felons who are legally prohibited from buying them. Gun show regulations among the top 10 gun-exporting states show the importance of cracking down on non-licensed sellers. Of those 10, only California and North Carolina are among the 18 states requiring criminal background checks for all gun show customers.
Joe Van Bokkelen, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, said most guns sold in Indiana and used in crimes elsewhere are handguns. The Brady Law allows states to choose whether to allow the FBI or one of their own state agencies to perform criminal background checks. Van Bokkelen believes part of Indiana's problem is an awkward two-tier system of background checks in which the FBI is in charge of criminal background checks for rifles, shotguns and other long guns, while the state police perform background checks for handguns.
"That's not the fault of the state police," Van Bokkelen said of the failure to keep up with background checks. "It's just that they're overwhelmed by the shortage of staff."
As for his own agency, Van Bokkelen says Department of Justice statistics show the Northern District of Indiana ranks consistently at or near the top of the 93 U.S. attorney offices in prosecution of gun crimes.
Designating the state police to conduct background checks allows Indiana to retain control over who receives permits to carry guns, but undermines the state's ability to perform accurate, systematic checks.
Unifying background checks under the authority of the FBI and requiring all gun show customers to submit to background checks are sensible, low-cost ways to lessen the chances that guns sold in Indiana will contribute to crime in neighboring states. Indiana's high ranking among gun-exporting states is a dubious distinction the state should be eager to lose.
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/6638519.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878<P>
Indiana should tighten regulations for sales at gun shows and designate the FBI instead of the overworked state police to handle background checks on handguns under the federal Brady Law.
Current loopholes appear to have contributed significantly to the state's dismaying eighth-place ranking in guns traced back to purchases in other states after their use in crimes. A report by Americans for Gun Safety found 1,684 used in crimes outside of Indiana were initially purchased in the Hoosier state. Ohio ranked seventh, with 1,697 guns involved in crimes committed elsewhere. The rankings are based on data obtained from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Contrary to the group's assertions, lax law enforcement is not the main reason for Indiana's high ranking. The problems appear to have more to do with defects in the state's regulatory structure and processes than a lack of zeal among police and prosecutors.
The Brady Law requires criminal background checks for those buying firearms from licensed gun dealers. But the state has left a gaping loophole by allowing sales of personal firearms owned by free-lance sellers, including those at gun shows, to remain unregulated.
The statistics strengthen arguments for closing the gun show loophole. Firearms acquired through private transactions at gun shows sometimes are resold in other states to felons who are legally prohibited from buying them. Gun show regulations among the top 10 gun-exporting states show the importance of cracking down on non-licensed sellers. Of those 10, only California and North Carolina are among the 18 states requiring criminal background checks for all gun show customers.
Joe Van Bokkelen, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, said most guns sold in Indiana and used in crimes elsewhere are handguns. The Brady Law allows states to choose whether to allow the FBI or one of their own state agencies to perform criminal background checks. Van Bokkelen believes part of Indiana's problem is an awkward two-tier system of background checks in which the FBI is in charge of criminal background checks for rifles, shotguns and other long guns, while the state police perform background checks for handguns.
"That's not the fault of the state police," Van Bokkelen said of the failure to keep up with background checks. "It's just that they're overwhelmed by the shortage of staff."
As for his own agency, Van Bokkelen says Department of Justice statistics show the Northern District of Indiana ranks consistently at or near the top of the 93 U.S. attorney offices in prosecution of gun crimes.
Designating the state police to conduct background checks allows Indiana to retain control over who receives permits to carry guns, but undermines the state's ability to perform accurate, systematic checks.
Unifying background checks under the authority of the FBI and requiring all gun show customers to submit to background checks are sensible, low-cost ways to lessen the chances that guns sold in Indiana will contribute to crime in neighboring states. Indiana's high ranking among gun-exporting states is a dubious distinction the state should be eager to lose.
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/6638519.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878<P>
Comments
I have heard that they even ban firearms classified and gunshow ads
as well as discourage pro-gun view points.I for one quit reading the journal gazette a long time ago.I get my news from TV and internet.[:(!]
The media nationwide floods us with bad news relating to firearms. In the past week all we've heard instances where somebody has killed fellow workers, family members, or themselves. NOT ONCE ,other than reading it in the "Armed Citizen" do we hear of positive ways in which firearms curtail death or save someone's life when in the hands of a law abiding person. We all know the stories abound nationwide but why don't we read it in the nightly newspaper or see it on the squak box sitting in our living room? I know you all have different opinions why this happens so cut loose.
"Save the Whalers, they need jobs too."
The stats, as pointed out in the article, are even higher for Ohio which is farther away from Chicago, so how do we account for the high rate there? The Ohio "crime gun" rate is high largely for three reasons. First, Ohio is the home of High Point firearms; the cheapest junk gun on the market today. Several Ohio dealers we touring the gun show circuit selling nothing but High Point firearms to anyone and anything that had some form of identification and the ability to fill out a 4473. I've personally seen "customers," and I use the term generously, leave the tablel of the shop where I was working after getting denied, only to walk twenty feet to another dealer and get approved, eventually buying ten of these junk guns. A few of these dealers have been shut down but many more are still in business. Second, the rate for crime guns is high in Ohio because the federal government undertook "sting" operations that they allowed to continue for years rather than shutting down the illegal customers. In one case, the dealer alerted the ATF after a customer purchased a only a few handguns. The federal agents allowed the customer to purchase more than 200 more handguns that are counted in the state's total of "crime guns" before arresting this customer and shutting down his smuggling operation. And finally, the number for Ohio crime guns is high because of geography. The drug dealers moving up and down I-75 from Florida to Michigan and back find it more convenient to buy guns in Ohio than other states. At the same time the dealers moving from New York to Chicago also find it convenient to acquire their firearms in Ohio. Ohio follows the federal NICS requirements, but it is easier to obtain a false Ohio driver's licence and other documentation than is possible in the adjoining states. As a consequence, Ohio is the prefered state for "crime gun" purchases.