Current laws not stopping illegal gun epidemic

[shadowrider]

Since the start of the year, Oakland police have confiscated more than 200 illegal guns during routine traffic stops and planned police arrests.

In Richmond, police seized more than 25 guns in vehicles during routine traffic stops in January alone.



http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/23/BA8F1C5GF6.DTL

[Pullo]

1. Make that title "Lack of enforcement of current laws ......"

[X_Digger]

6. No kidding.. see this quote..

"Most of the guys we catch with guns end up charged with misdemeanors and plead out for next to nothing," said Richmond Police Chief Chris Magnus.

[Don Caballero]

2. More proof that aggressive gun control measures must be put in place

to rid the streets of illegal firearms.

[Tim01]

5. More laws to not enforce? For what? nt

[cowman]

7. It just

must make your head explode that Pres.Obama and the Dem congress are doing NOTHING about gun control. Your rants are entertaining and I really do enjoy reading them because in my line of business I need a good laugh every now and then

[Jackson1999]

9. You do realize dont you....

....that the nation's leading gun control organization just released a ranking saying that California had the best gun control laws in the country?

[slackmaster]

10. When your only tool is a hammer,

Every problem looks like a nail.

[PavePusher]

13. What possible combination of ink and paper...

do you think it will take to get criminals to stop using firearms illegally?

[Tim01]

3. "... guys we catch with guns end up charged with misdemeanors and plead out for next to nothing,"

I think they have listed the ACTUAL problem.

[spin]

14. We only imprison them after they kill someone...

in other words the authorities want to go after regular citizens not criminals.

If instead those caught with illegal guns were sentenced to 5 years in prison without parole, you would see a dramatic decrease in illegal guns on the street.

[SteveM]

4. And this in a state with some of the toughest gun laws. Who'd thunk?

[old mark]

8. Current laws are not stopping the illegal drug epidemic, either.

Seems law enforcement can be a bit lax when there is untraceable cash involved.

mark

[Katya Mullethov]

11. Ain't nothin'

A few hundred thousand more probation officers won't fix .

[Euromutt]

12. I think the piece makes some unsupported assumptions

The first being that the amount of illegal firearms in the East Bay is appreciably higher now than it has been in the past. When you use a term like "epidemic," it strongly suggests an unusually high level, but the fact is that Oakland and Richmond have been in the top ten of "most dangerous cities" (pop. > 75,000) for years. If the local police forces have been capturing more illegally owned guns, that may well simply be a result of an increased effort on their part of find them, rather than evidence that there are more guns around.

Unfortunately, the continuing gun violence in the Bay Area comes at a time when gun laws seem headed in the wrong direction.

A new federal law allowing guns to be carried for protection in most national parks took effect Monday - and in recent months, some Bay Area residents have begun availing themselves of a state law that allows them to carry unloaded sidearms.

Mr. Johnson doesn't see the need to explain how either law makes it easier to illegally acquire a firearm in the East Bay. Possibly because they don't.

Police Chief Anthony Batts said his officers will focus on tracing guns back to the point of origin and working with federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives authorities to identify and prosecute the people illegally transporting them from gun shows outside the state. Interstate transport of such weapons is a federal crime.

Notice how he just slips in that "from gun shows" bit. No supporting evidence that the weapons are acquired from gun shows as opposed to being straw purchased from FFLs, but hey, "everybody knows" criminals get their guns at gun shows, right?

Until someone comes up with a way to remove the violence from people's hearts, it is incumbent on the elected leaders in a civilized society to legally remove the guns from the hands of those who would use them to harm others.

Ah, one of those nicely ambiguous statements--along the lines of "reasonable, common-sense gun control measures"--that nobody could reasonably disagree with on the face, but that all too frequently serve to cloak the speaker's actual agenda.