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Gun laws and family ties
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Gun laws and family tiesFrom the Journal SentinelLast Updated: Nov. 11, 2001Thanks to the 1993 Brady Law, which requires a background check before buying a firearm from a licensed dealer, outlaws don't patronize gun retailers as much as they once did. However, they have stepped up reliance on kith and kin to obtain firearms, according to a federal poll of prison inmates.So much for the effectiveness of gun laws, their opponents maintain. "What this shows is that making it harder for stores to sell guns does nothing to deter criminals from getting weapons," says University of Texas criminologist Jeffrey Wendell.Actually, though, even proponents of sensible gun control are not - or ought not to be - surprised that plugging one source of guns for the criminal element would expand another source. As University of Pennsylvania law professor Paul Stevens notes, guns proliferate too wildly on the streets of America to keep them out of the wrong hands.Public policy ought to be aimed at bringing order to that chaos, which might increase society's chances of keeping firearms away from felons and others barred from bearing them - without overly burdening law-abiding citizens.Foes of any gun control pour much money and energy into blocking the passage of firearm regulations and - when that fails, as it does occasionally - into keeping the laws as weak and narrow as possible. When the laws don't wipe out gun violence, as is predictable, these critics say: Told you so; gun laws are worthless.But the laws work within their limited scope. Take the Gun Control Act of 1968, which bars felons, fugitives from justice, mental incompetents and certain others from owning firearms or from buying them from licensed dealers. That statute has enabled the feds to prosecute felons who have bought guns.An example of the measure's limits is that it relied on the word of buyers to determine whether they were felons. Finally, in 1993, Congress fixed the problem with the Brady Law, which requires independent background checks.Since taking force, the Brady Law has stopped the sale of guns to 600,000 people. But the limited measure does not cover sales of guns involving unlicensed dealers. Also, as the Department of Justice study suggests, friends and relatives who can pass background checks buy guns on behalf of lawbreakers - the "straw buyer" phenomenon.A 1991 poll showed that of all inmates who had wielded guns in their crime, 19% had purchased the weapons from retail stores or pawn shops. By 1997, the figure had dropped to 12%. Meanwhile, the share that had obtained the firearms from families and friends rose from 34% to 40%.A single, comprehensive law could plug these and other gaps in sensible gun regulations. One provision of such a law could be a requirement that guns be registered, as are cars, when they trade ownership. Registration would help in keeping guns out of the wrong hands. It would also better enable the authorities to trace weapons involved in crimes. http://www.jsonline.com/news/editorials/nov01/guns-edit111101.asp
Comments
I can't come to work today. The voices said, STAY HOME AND CLEAN THE GUNS!
cbxjeffIt's too late for me, save yourself.