The Ammunition Loophole
Bullets slip through hole in gun laws
Criminal offenders bought handgun ammunition from nine stores in Monmouth and Ocean counties, according to testimony heard Tuesday by a state panel investigating the link between bullet sales and street violence.
Seven of those stores were in Ocean County, which ranked first among the 19 counties probed by the State Commission of Investigation, an independent watchdog of state government.
The commission used those figures to expose the lack of state laws regulating ammunition sales and how some of those purchases end up in the guns of gang members who use violence to control some of New Jersey’s most dangerous neighborhoods.
Most sales to criminal offenders in the Shore area and elsewhere were legal, as vendors are only required to write details about the sale into a log book and to make sure that buyers of handgun bullets are at least 21 years old.
“You can be a convicted criminal and buy as much as you want,” said Lt. Col. Frank E. Rodgers, deputy superintendent of investigations for the State Police.
I guess the fact that possession of ammunition by a felon being a crime isn’t enough?
December 14th, 2006 at 2:35 pm
Guys, I live in Cook County and I can no longer order ammunition through the mail. Ammunition is the second front for the anti-gun crowd. What good are our guns if we are reloading with crushed matchheads?
December 14th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
You know better than to ask that… of coarse a federal law is not enough, you must pass a strict state law too. And when that fails to work, you complain that it is not strict enough or people are buying them from another state and bringing them back.
December 14th, 2006 at 4:50 pm
I’d be interested to know how many arsonists are allowed to buy matches and gasoline, and why the HELL no one’s required to get fingerprints, photos, a retinal scan, DNA sample and a criminal background check from every buyer of matches, lighters, and gasoline. SHit, you’d think the government just wants crime to happen.
Don’t get me started on knives and baseball bats (to say nothing of rocks– those goddamned things are just laying around everywhere, and no one is doing CRAP about it).
December 14th, 2006 at 6:56 pm
New Jersey never met a gun control law that was too ridiculous to pass.