Gun prosecutions
Wow! These places with all these gun bans aren’t quite living up to the dream. First, Massachusetts gets a bad rank for prosecuting gun crimes, and now Illinois:
Federal prosecutors in Chicago insist they’re making headway against gun traffickers, despite a report released Wednesday that claims the government is lax in enforcing the nation’s firearms laws.
The Americans For Gun Safety Foundation found Illinois ranks 41st lowest among states in per capita prosecutions for federal gun offenses. For instance, only 32 of 26,111 people who lied on a firearm purchase background check form were prosecuted in Illinois from 2000 through 2003, the group said.
The study also said six gun dealers were prosecuted during that period, even though violations were found during 26 percent of inspections conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives over the same period.
But Assistant U.S. Attorney David Hoffman said gun trafficking is a higher priority for prosecutors in Chicago this year. Federal prosecutors are focusing on gun offenses most likely to lead to violence, he said.
There’s an old adage about enforcing existing gun laws. Maybe they should take that to heart. The entire AGS report is here.
Five of the give states had the most of all trafficking prosecutions, four are fairly gun friendly. They are New York, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia. And, for the record, Tennessee ranks sixth in total prosecutions and we’re a gun friendly state. It seems we actually enforce the laws on the books. It’s easier to enforce those laws because there aren’t a million of them.
October 27th, 2004 at 12:40 pm
[…] ennessee, there is one rejection for every 26 purchases in Tennessee. As I’ve said before, gun friendly states seem to enforce existing gun laws better than non-gun […]
December 2nd, 2004 at 5:03 pm
[…] lated crimes. This program was not a magic pill, after overall gun crime prosecutions are low relatively speaking but, maybe because of this program, such prosecutions had […]
October 8th, 2004 at 12:03 pm
Isn’t Americans for Gun Safety an explicitly anti-gun group? If so, I have to wonder if the strategery behind this “study” is not to single out the states that have the least gun control, but instead to go after the ones most likely to be persuaded to enact more if it in the future.
October 8th, 2004 at 12:09 pm
Isn’t Americans for Gun Safety an explicitly anti-gun group?
Yup. They try to claim a moderate stance but are only fooling themselves, and some soccer moms.
October 9th, 2004 at 9:40 am
Post-Second-Debate Morning Reads.
The Linker of Worlds (Allahpundit) has a round-up of debate responses that I’m not going to top, so I won’t try. I’ll just link it. Sounds to me like a Bush win. For the Record: The Armorer ain’t watching any…
October 10th, 2004 at 7:50 pm
Weekly Report on Media Gun Stories
Welcome to the October 11th edition of this almost weekly thing I do here, the Weekly Check of media on guns and the Second Amendment. Some things never change. Just as every so often Mount Saint Helens will erupt, so…