The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is weighing in on weapons used in crime, and they're finding the going a bit tougher than expected. It's not that the Bureau is having difficulty compiling data...oh, no. The ATF is having trouble with CONGRESS (big surprise there). But let's back up just a bit for some insight to their problem.
The ATF has found that crooks and drug dealers don't just shop ANYWHERE for their firearms of "necessity"...they have certain places they prefer..and with good reason. It's what I call "don't ask...don't tell".
- Compton, CA: Boulevard Sales & Service is SO "felon-friendly", that salespeople actually offer "tips" on how to buy a gun despite having a criminal record.
- Philadelphia, PA: Lou's Loans, a pawn shop in a nearby suburb doesn't bat an eye when a young woman stops by a few times a MONTH to purchase cheap handguns.
- New Orleans: On the outskirts of the city, thuggy-killers-to-be can arm themselves at a quaint shop called Elliot's Gun Shop. THIS store was responsible for sourcing 2300 weapons later linked to 125 homicides as well as other crimes.
- Even in Indy, there is one store that has ads on TV, and the owner proudly proclaims: "I'm not in business to make money...I'm in business to sell guns". And this guy is responsible for providing over 300 weapons linked to crimes in and around the city.
Now I'm a VERY STAUNCH advocate of the 2nd Amendment, and will defend that right until they pry my cold, dead fingers from my gun, but I have to wonder about these stores that are acting in a manner that protects the public. If this were a car dealership, and the cars they sold were KNOWN to cause harm (let's face it...ANY vehicle in the wrong hands is as deadly AS any gun), some watchdog group would be on them like flies on...well, you know. But the products these stores sell ARE LEGAL. The methods by which they ARE PURCHASED oft times ARE NOT.
Therein lies the rub.
Here in Fort Wayne, they've busted up a few "straw-purchasing" rings, the last being at H&H Firearms (my gun shop of choice). Of course the gun-control advocate think the government is doing too little. And I agree to an extent. I feel the government needs to crack DOWN on stores (and the owners) that are selling to these perps and straw purchasers...period!
Come down on them HARD, FAST, and CONTINUOUS!
Unfortunately, it can take YEARS to revoke a dealer's license to sell firearms. That needs to change. If the BMV can revoke a driver's license from a DUI, or the DNR can revoke a hunting/fishing license for poaching, than by Christ, the ATF SHOULD be able to do likewise with gun dealer licenses.
In a 2000 report, the ATF said that nearly 40% of all weapons traced BY the bureau originated from JUST 332 gun dealers! That is simply intolerable. That comes down to about less than ONE PERCENT of America's gun stores supply nearly HALF of all weapons used in connection with a crime. Now THAT IS a crime unto itself!
Gun shop owners dispute accusations of corruption or bad business practices, stating they "just sell a lot of weapons", or that they are victims of "bad locations", owing to their operation in neighborhoods convenient to highway smugglers who run weapons from "friendly" states to Northern cities.
And CONGRESS is siding with the store owners (so far). Congress blocked the ATF from revealing information from it's database which included the names of shops that sold the most weapons linked to crime back in 2003. Just this past Thursday, a House committee refused to lift the restrictions, despite New York City Mayor Bloomberg's pleas after two NYPD officers were shot with illegally-owned guns in Brooklyn.
Once again we see that it's not about the GUNS, per se...it's ALL about the PEOPLE involved....those owners that are selling to the wrong people...the ones straw-purchasing...and the lawmakers who obviously are still searching for the forest among the trees.
Someone should tell these lawmakers that in order to SEE the forest, one has to get their head from out of their...well, you know.
Have a Safe Weekend!
2 comments:
While I am in NO WAY advocating illegal gun sales, I can fully understand why it happens. Simply put..... it's the $$$. A dear friend of mine opened a gun shop in Fort Wayne, called On Target (off Coliseum Blvd.) about five years ago and was out of business in just over a year. It wasn't that he didn't get lots of customers, but that he followed the laws to the letter and had to deny quite a few sales.
One of the better ways to keep from going under is to cater to law-enforcement.
Then again, unlike Philadelphia, you DO have a lot more stores available to LEOs in Indiana, hence more competition in sales and services.
It IS getting harder to purchase guns illegally, but it still persists.
In all too many cases, these guns are purchased FAR away from the states they wind up in, changing hands several times in the process.
Then it's not an issue of having a good enough database...it's all about good police work trying to find WHO the gun belongs to before it winds up connected to a crime.
As is often the situation, it's more backtracking than being proactive.
B.G.
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