One of their beloved claims is that requiring back ground checks on all transfers will prevent criminals from buying firearms from private sellers. Be that as it may, it won't prevent criminals from buying firearms from friends, family, or other criminals. According to a November, 2001 report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics here (pdf) (yeah, I know it's old, but it's the latest one available), nearly 80% of offenders get their guns from friends and family, (39.6%) or the black market (39.2%). My question to the antis is "What would compel a criminal seller to conduct a background check on a criminal buyer?" The short answer is NOTHING. We will have nearly 40% of offenders that won't be affected by a universal background check law. Next question, what would compel a family member or friend, who knowing transfers a firearm to his criminal family member or friend, to run a background check? The answer, nothing short of registration. Keep this in mind the next time some anti calls for background checks, it's the stepping stone to registration. NEXT.
What if firearms were registered? We have over 300M firearms in civilian hands in the United States, these firearms cannot be registered. Why you ask? Simply, there are too many firearms already in circulation and it would be logistically impossible. Any registration would have to be voluntary because, who knows who has what firearms? No one. Who knows if that recently purchased firearm was lost in a boating accident? No one. Who knows if that recently purchased firearm was lost at sea, in a storm, taken by a tornado, etc.? No one. BUT.
What if everyone who legally owns a firearm volunteered to register their legally held firearms? Now we have another law that only affects the law abiding citizen and not the criminal element. Any type of federal registration (which, BTW, is against the law), would have to start with newly purchased firearms from FFLs and newly purchased firearms from private sales, that would have to go through an FFL. This, still, would not prevent criminals from obtaining firearms. It would make it harder, but not prevent it.
According to the 2010 FBI UCR, table 20, 23.19% of firearms used to commit a homicide are "Firearms (type unknown)". According to the Uniform Crime Handbook, page 106 , "Where firearms are used, the report must indicate whether the firearm was a handgun, rifle, or shotgun", if the firearm cannot be classified as one of those three, the firearm is reported by the FBI as "type unknown". This is significant because these firearms listed as "type unknown" include homemade firearms. There are no laws that could ever be enacted that would prevent a criminal from making his own firearm. As a matter of fact, there are no laws preventing a law abiding citizen from making his own firearm, as long as that firearm falls within the limits set forth in Title I of the Gun Control Act (shotgun barrel over 18", rifles over whatever length a rifle is supposed to be, pistols that look like pistols, etc).
Some homemade firearms can be very crude, such as single shot, shotgun pistols (Illegal), single shot .22 pistols, etc.) and some homemade firearms are not so crude. I recently made an M-4, that's fully functional, in my shop, with a hand drill and a rotary tool. Actually, I only made the receiver portion of the M4 and put a factory made upper on it. It worked just fine, to bad it was lost in a boating accident. Moving on...
According to CDC WISQARS:
Legal Intervention - injuries inflicted by the police or other law-enforcing agents, including military on duty, in the course of arresting or attempting to arrest lawbreakers, suppressing disturbances, maintaining order, and other legal actions. Excludes injuries caused by civil insurrections.What's also notable about the CDC report is the inclusion of X95. X95 has three subsections, X95.0 Assault by gas, air or spring-operated guns, X95.8 Assault by other firearm discharge, and X95.9 Assault by unspecified firearm discharge. I contacted the CDC with regards to the X95.8 and at the time of this writing, have not heard back from them.
If you're curious about the *U01.4, that's the code for terrorism. The reason there's an asterisk, is because the value for that is ZERO. I'm sure that's because the TSA is keeping us safe.
If you took at look at Table 20 cited above, you'll see that of the 12,996 murders, 8,772 of them were committed with a firearm. Of those 8,772 firearm murders, 2,034 were committed with a firearm that couldn't be classified as a pistol, rifle, or shotgun. That leaves 6,738 firearms, that were, at one time, purchased through an FFL (or stolen from an FFL). Of the 6,738 classifiable firearms, 5,390 came from friends, family or illegal sources (that won't conduct a background check), that leaves us with 1,348 firearms that could have been regulated by a universal background check. But WAIT, there's more. According to the BJS report cited above, 13.9% (937) of firearms would have come from a retail outlet, that already requires a background check, which leaves us with 411 firearms, that were possibly obtained from a private sale among strangers. Do we believe that 411 killers could not have found a different method to kill their intended target? NO. Do we believe that 411 killers could not have found another source for their weapon? NO. Do we believe that requiring a background check for all firearm transfers would have prevented these 411 murders? NO
These things are important to know because when the anti-rights cultists bigots start calling for MORE gun control, that gun control will only lead to infringing on the rights of the law abiding citizen and not the thugs that don't obey the law.
On my wish list, as you know, licensing and registration come before background checks on all transfers even private ones.
ReplyDeleteLicensing and registration will never happen, but at least your honest about your position, unlike the Joyce puppets.
DeleteI have to ask this question. What will compel a criminal gun owner to register his firearm?