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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I lay the blame squarely at the feet of the gun lobby and those who’ve insisted the second amendment is an individual right. This is your fault. The blood is on your hands. [/quote]

There were a lot of homicides by firearm in the city before DC v. Heller (a LOT more if you go back a decade or two), so I'm not sure I see the direct connection here.  I'll agree that the black market for illegal firearms is a real problem, and lax enforcement (and perhaps lax laws) are a major issue that needs to be addressed.  However, laying this at the feet of legal gun owners, as the OP did, is ludicrous.

If you could somehow make all firearms in civilian hands disappear overnight, I strongly believe you'd still see a lot of violence in the same areas by the same people.  Sure, it would likely be less lethal, but let's not just forget the other side of the coin here.  [/quote]

Legal gun owners should be pushing for common sense gun laws that help LEO do their job. 
[/quote]

Legal DC gun owner here.  I'd LOVE to see some actual enforcement of existing laws.  That seems to be particularly lacking here lately.  I'm not sure what new laws would be needed, at least here in the District.  [/quote]

This is two pronged. Existing laws don't really do much about the fact that straw purchase and trafficking is so easy in parts of the country and that is the predominant way that our local criminals obtain their guns. So our local city is flush with guns illegally obtained, in part, because of more lax laws in other parts of the country.

On the other hand, there has been plenty of data posted (I follow DC Crime Facts) about issues with local DC prosecution of criminals - i.e. DC has a high rate of declining to prosecute, offenders are arrested and let go too easily and commit the same crime again within days, DC crime lab remains uncertified which impacts ability to prosecute, and more...[/quote]

DC gun owner here again.  Great points, particularly on the first one about straw purchases.  As a gun owner, I would really hope the firearms groups like NSFF, NRA, etc. would be pushing hard for cracking down on shenanigans like straw purchases and illegal firearms trafficking.  [/quote]

Sure, but there isn't much they can do when existing laws make it so easy. Unless *certain* states tighten their laws to match other, more stringent, states, there won't be much legal authorities can do to actually reduce these purchases. Lax laws mean hands are tied.[/quote]

DP, but for instance, when Virginia limited # of guns purchased per time period, suddenly local DC criminals had to source their guns from farther away (so Virginia is not the major source of trafficked guns anymore for DC) and Virginia is less likely to be a source when guns used in crimes are traced. So it's an indication of how gun control (cough) CAN work, but also how it CAN'T work without consistency across states.[/quote]

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