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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][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]

Leaving aside prescribed medication, it has been unlawful for decades to possess, transport, purchase, sell, manufacture or import a huge number of drugs. The authorities regularly confiscate huge quantities of those very drugs.  What makes you think that more laws infringing the rights of decent people will work any better against criminals who misuse firearms. If criminal enterprises can import tons of drugs, they can import tons of weapons, including military hardware that currently is not often seen in criminal hands.

If you think “lax laws” are the reasons criminals have and misuse firearms, you haven’t been paying attention. Straw purchase is a federal felony, punishable by ten years in prison and a quarter million dollar fine. A felon or other prohibited person in possession of a firearm likewise is a federal felony, and also punishable by ten years in prison and a quarter million dollar fine.  It is a federal crime to purchase or sell a handgun outside the purchaser’s state of residence, again punishable by ten years in prison and a quarter million dollar fine.

The problem isn’t guns. The problem isn’t “lax laws.”  The problem isn’t straw purchases. The problem is criminal psychopaths, and the authorities that refuse to prosecute and imprison them. [/quote]

If gun laws weren't a *part* of the problem, then criminals wouldn't resort to obtaining them from states with loose gun laws. The simple fact that they go to such states to obtain guns shows that in fact, gun laws work - but the problem is, they are not applied consistently.[/quote]

Why do you only care about the end criminal, and not the start criminal? [b]States without universal background check laws export crime guns across state lines at a 30% higher rate than states that require background checks on all gun sales[/b]

[b]Many gun dealers are still willing to knowingly make sales to straw purchasers. 
A national phone survey of retail gun dealers found that half of the gun dealers indicated a willingness to make a sale under circumstances of questionable legality.[/b]
States without universal background check laws export crime guns across state lines at a 30% higher rate than states that require background checks on all gun sales

Susan B. Sorenson and Katherine A. Vittes, “Buying a Handgun for Someone Else: Firearm Dealer Willingness to Sell,” Injury Prevention 9, no. 2 (2003): 147–150; Garen Wintemute, “Firearm Retailers’ Willingness to Participate in an Illegal Gun Purchase,” Journal of Urban Health 87, no. 5 (2010): 865–878

[/quote]

Gun owner here again.  The first bolded statement doesn't surprise me, and I'd be interested in ways we can all get that number to be lower.  What I don't get is where "expanded" NICS checks would help if it's gun dealers (i.e. FFL sales that are required to do NICS checks) that are making straw purchases.  Is it just lax monitoring and enforcement by states and/or ATF of gun dealers in certain states?  Or is there a more fundamental issue with state laws in those states?[/quote]

Go poke around on the Giffords website, unless you're so worried their info is biased, you'd prefer not to look. I find their site helpful and straightforward, and most importantly, DATA DRIVEN.[/quote]

I'll go have a look.  Admittedly, I'm not all that familiar with gun laws in other states (or the black market), so I expect I'll learn something.  I'm all for data. [/quote]

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