Originally Posted By Dabob2 <Does anyone honestly think your average gang banger is going into a gun shop to purchase a gun?> If they don't yet have a criminal record (and some places even if they do), sure they would. Cheaper than the black market. <They're likely getting their guns from the trunk of a car.> Or at a gun show. Or from the trunk of a car outside a gun show. Which is what closing that loophole is about. Then, if the criminal is in possession of an illegally-obtained gun, he can be arrested/prosecuted for that before he uses it in a crime. And the trafficker can be prosecuted as well.
Originally Posted By EighthDwarf How about making urban areas in general gun-free zones? After all, it is illegal to discharge a firearm in most cities. Sounds crazy, but it can be done.
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 Nice thought but it's naive. So if one rival gang, hacks off another do you think their going to say you know we can't fire a gun so let's try to settle this with knife or chain. Or they're going to have dance off?
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 <<Or at a gun show>> I very much doubt you have gang bangers going to a gun show. In fact I'd wager there's more diversity at a Klan rally than at a gun show.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <<Or at a gun show>> <I very much doubt you have gang bangers going to a gun show. In fact I'd wager there's more diversity at a Klan rally than at a gun show.> Saw a news report a couple of weeks ago about people selling guns out of their trunks in the parking lot of a gun show. One of the purchasers was a 19-20 year old black kid with a do-rag. Doesn't mean he was a gangbanger, and doesn't mean he actually went to the show. He was buying guns out of that trunk, though.
Originally Posted By ecdc Most guns are, at some point in the chain from production to crime, legally purchased. It may be illegally resold, it may be illegally stolen, but it started out being legal. This isn't a Lethan Weapon movie where drug dealers in suits are unloading shipping crates full of uzis. There aren't Goldfinger-style thefts from gun manufacturers. So the plethora of legal guns is part of the problem. This is part pragmatic, around laws and education, and part philosophical. What kind of culture do we want? One where everyone has to be armed to feel safe? Because that's what the NRA seems to propose. What kind of screwed up thinking makes someone feel like they need to go to a restaurant with a gun strapped to their belt. If you're that kind of individual, you're the last person I want my kids around.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>What kind of screwed up thinking makes someone feel like they need to go to a restaurant with a gun strapped to their belt.<< At Chik-Fil-A I think you get a free dessert for that.
