Price of Lax Gun Laws

[ericire12]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/opinion/23tue2.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

For years, the gun lobby has defeated new gun control laws partly by arguing that stronger laws do not deter crime. A study prepared by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a bipartisan group headed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York and Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston, should finally put that myth to rest.

The study analyzed trace data for guns used in connection with crimes during 2007. The data reveal a strong correlation between weak state gun laws and higher rates of in-state murders, police slayings and sales of guns used in crimes in other states.

Many states have enacted strong gun laws to supplement inadequate federal ones, including mandatory background checks on gun show sales. States requiring the same background checks at gun shows as those required for store purchases show an export rate for guns used in crimes that’s nearly half the national average. This argues for Congressional action to end the gun-show loophole nationally. States with weak gun laws produce different outcomes. More than half the guns recovered in out-of-state crimes last year were supplied by Georgia, Florida, Texas, Virginia and six other states where weak laws make it easy for gun traffickers and other criminals to obtain weapons.

Weak gun laws also put a state’s own citizens at risk. There were nearly 60 percent more gun murders in the 10 states where exports were highest than in the states with low export rates — and nearly three times as many fatal shootings of law enforcement officers.

The study by the mayors’ group isn’t the first to document the link between weak gun laws and gun violence or the “iron pipeline” by which guns flow from states with weak gun laws into states with strong ones. Still, the numbers are startling. They explain why the gun lobby resisted their release, and they provide a powerful retort to those who claim tougher gun laws don’t work.

HAHAHAHAHAH! Bipartisan group! Its pretty sad when you lose all credibility in the very first paragraph!

FYI! "The gun show loop hole" is a myth! States are not closing this loop hole either..... it is a federal law that any gun dealer who has a Federal Firearms License to sell firearms (Which is about 95% of the individuals selling guns at gun shows) must still comply with all provisions of the gun control act which includes performing a required background check and filing out all the federal forms required no matter if the sale is at a gun show or at their gun shop. Criminals don't go to gun shows to buy their guns. This is just a deceptive way to close down guns shows all together. A recent report by the U.S. Department of Justice surveyed inmates in state and federal correctional facilities and asked them where they got their guns. 40% said friends and family, while another 40% got theirs via street buys and other illegal sources. 0.7 % got their guns from gun shows. (Source: Guns & Ammo Magazine, June 2007 Issue). The NRA is not keeping the Bloods and the Crips in business!

[tombogan03884]

It is a truly bipartisan committee, "Bipartisan" means having two parts and this committee does, Bloomberg and Menino, two sides of the same gun grabbing  double headed (or is that two faced ) coin. 

[Pathfinder]

Well, if you tell a lie often it enough, it becomes the truth, right Bloomie?

[PegLeg45]

It is a truly bipartisan committee, "Bipartisan" means having two parts and this committee does, Bloomberg and Menino, two sides of the same gun grabbing  double headed (or is that two faced ) coin. 

Two parts....the head and the ass........one neatly inserted into the other....the two parts seem to fit well together.

[pioneer]

It's from the New York Times, so it must be true!   

[Sponsor]