Parade (yes, that little rag that gets tucked into the comics section of the Sunday paper) addresses crime guns:

Even though crime is on the decline across the U.S., gun violence is actually on the rise. How do guns continue to end up in the hands of criminals? A small group of sellers is responsible: 57% of the guns used in crimes come from 1% of all dealers. Too often, they fail to run background checks or sell large numbers of weapons to traffickers who then resell them on the street. Due to weak laws and lack of enforcement, it can take an average of 11 years for authorities to order one shop to quit selling firearms. From 2003 to 2005, law-enforcement agencies reportedly traced an astonishing 1,424 guns used in crimes back to Trader Sports of California. The store had been investigated since the 1970s, but only last year was it forced to leave the firearms business. Progress is occurring, however. Under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the City of New York has sued 27 dealers in five states for engaging in illegal sales; so far, 14 of them have settled and agreed to stricter monitoring of gun sales and to tough penalties.

If a dealer fails to run a background check that dealer has broken the law. If a dealer sells a large number of handguns to one person (3 in a week) that info is reported to ATF. So, two strikes.

Also, if ATF wasn’t busy shutting down shops for failing to dot i’s and cross t’s, they might be able to go after bad dealers.

The ATF and others have noted that guns traced do not necessarily indicate the gun was used in a crime.

You can send the editor a letter at editor@parade.com.

Update: More at Ahab’s.

Posted in uncategorized on November 16th, 2007 by SayUncle | RSS 2.0 |