Monday - August 17, 2009
Hey, Let’s Have A Law, Because We Can
People, y’all have lost your cotton pickin’ minds. This is the weakest gun control argument I think I have ever heard. And to make it even better, he links his essay to an ATF report that shows that the One Gun A Month law is worthless ... that is, if you actually look at the data they’re presenting. If you cherry pick, or just see a BIG PIE CHART, then you can draw whatever conclusions your fuzzy little brain can come up with.
But this ... this is really weak ... [ bold and italics added by me ]
Soliman: N.J. gun law is a sensible compromise
Thursday, August 13, 2009
BY AHMED SOLIMAN
The Record [one of our New Jersey Newspapers. Usually we call it The Bergen Record, since it’s mostly about Bergen County]THE SECOND Amendment right to bear arms has long been controversial, but ironically it was a popular and widely agreed-upon right when first written into the U.S. Constitution — popular enough to be the second one listed.
The common belief of the time was that a citizen should have the ability to defend his land, his family and himself. That was especially true in the 1700s, when many people lived alone on several acres of farmed land, following a time when British soldiers could use their might to bully people around.
People still need the ability to defend themselves today. After all, armed criminals could enter your home in the middle of the night, and harm someone before the police could arrive in time to stop them. But it’s also true that gun-related violence is a serious problem, and sometimes caused by weapons originally purchased from a legal dealer.
In Bergen County, the average was 2.4 gun-related deaths for every 100,000.
Likewise, according to a May report by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, based on the most recent statistics from 2006, 492 people died in New Jersey as a result of gun violence. That works out to almost six deaths for every 100,000 residents in New Jersey (a slight rise from the 5.3 rate in 2004).
Some wonder if it is possible to have our cake and eat it, too: Can we protect the right to arm ourselves, regulate gun possession and curb gun violence at the same time?
Bill signed into law
Last week, Governor Corzine signed a bill into law that aims to do exactly that.
The law limits the number of handguns a person can purchase to just one per month, thereby making New Jersey the fourth state in the union to enact such a law (following California, Maryland and Virginia). The bill was sponsored by Assemblywoman Joan Quigley of Jersey City after the courts struck down a 2006 city ordinance, which also limited gun purchases to only one per month, because it pre-empted state authority.
The law regulates purchases of handguns only, not hunting rifles or shotguns. The law also does not violate a citizen’s Second Amendment right to bear arms, because the law would still allow any law-abiding individual to purchase up to 12 guns per year. That’s more than enough with which to protect oneself.
And yet, gun rights advocates still feel that the law was a bad idea.
“I wouldn’t have signed it because it’s not going to do much of anything to accomplish its goals,” said John Cotte, manager of Lawmen Supply Company in Paterson. “It’s just a political feel-good law.”
Cotte did, however, concede that the law would not affect many people because, except for gun collectors, few people purchase more than one gun per month. But the law exempts gun collectors who hold a federal collector’s license.
Logic suggests that the new law can only help. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms reports that about 24 percent of recovered guns from crimes in New Jersey were originally purchased from New Jersey gun dealers. The new law is designed to reduce that number by blocking frequent and multiple sales to individuals.
Why not?
Since the law does not violate the Second Amendment, affect hunters or even gun collectors, the question becomes: Why not enact the law? After all, if there is even the slightest chance that it could bring down the number of gun-related killings, isn’t that worth it?
Corzine should be lauded for signing this common-sense measure. I’m sure the people who wrote the Second Amendment would agree.
Oy vey. I’m sure the people who wrote the Second Amendment would find a very elegant way to tell you to go fuck yourself. Here’s one of the main graphs from that ATF report:
See what I said about actually reading the report? This new law Corzine signed is supposed to reduce gun violence because such a huge number of guns are being straw purchased and then sold to the ghetto rats so they can shoot people. Uh huh. Because that’s happening sooo often. Funny, those criminals must have genius level IQs and the patience to enact plans for such a long term that they’d even impress the Soviets. 81.37% of the recovered guns had been purchased more than 3 years prior to their “criminal” use, and a whopping 94.60% had been sitting around at least a year. Notice the average “time to crime” for New Jersey is MORE THAN TWELVE AND A HALF YEARS. What antimatter based logic is this guy using to rationalize One A Month? You can’t get there from here, even with heavy doses of medicine.
And if you’re wondering why I put “crime” in scare quotes, it’s because of another graph in that report: nearly 30% of the recovered guns were either found, or recovered for no known reasons. So more than a third weren’t “crime guns” at all. And less than 76% of the guns recovered were handguns. It’s all in the report if you read it.
So what we have, is a new law that punishes - or at least limits the freedoms of, and that’s the same thing really - the law abiding, because out of almost 4000 guns recovered, about 2000 were time traceable* through the ATF, and a whole 32 had been recently acquired and then used in a crime. Or should I say “used in a 70% crime”, given the previous paragraph? That would take the numbers down to 23 guns, and that’s rounding up. And of those 23, slightly less than 1 in 4 came from New Jersey. So really, we’re talking about 5 or 6 guns. of which 76% were handguns, which means, worst case, rounding up, this law might stop 5 pistols per year from being used in a crimeTotal. In the whole state. 5. Per year. At most. Or, it might not. Out of just about 4000 guns, 5. That’s an eight of a percent. 0.00125. One eight hundredth part. Lower than statistically insignificant, that’s statistically invisible. The law is a crock.
When this stupid thing was just a bill, I contacted my legislative representatives, both of whom were, and still are, dead set against this inanity. Those who were pushing the bill were carrying on and on about “straw purchases” being used to arm gangs, blah blah blah. I asked my reps for the evidence. New Jersey makes you jump through hopes to get a pistol purchase permit. Which means they know, even before the permits are issued, exactly how many people are submitting the paperwork for bulk quantity purchases, and who those people are. So let’s see some numbers.
First, define “bulk”, so that we can make some hay with this “straw” thing. Is 2 permits bulk? How about 4? 600? Pick a number, any number. Heck, let’s call it 3. More than you “need”, right? Great. So, how many people have applied for 3 or more pistol purchase permits at the same time? Or within a week? New Jersey laws make you report disposition of firearms. If I own a gun, and then sell it, I’ve got paperwork to do. Super. So, how many of those “bulk” purchasers reported their guns as sold or stolen within 6 months? Oh puh-leez, this entire thing is computerized. These queries are dweeb-work; any chumbawumba with a keyboard and access to the system can get you these numbers, going back for decades probably, in a matter of seconds. So let’s do it: if we have a straw purchase problem, let’s see the numbers, let’s find those people and lean on them, let’s do something.
I gave that line of reasoning to my two legislators, who were actively fighting the bill. And they did nothing with it. I even spurred them on, saying that it would be newsworthy if they were refused the information. Nothing. No numbers. No response. Thanks. For Nothing. Wow, those Republicans sure do put up a helluva fight, don’t they? [yawn]
So, no numbers, no proof. Therefore the whole “Straw purchase” meme is smoke and mirrors. Total bullshit. Bullshit passed into law by Obama’s favorite governor, elitist billionaire, super leftist, anti-gun zealot “seatbelts” Corzine. Fighting crime in a big way, by stopping AT MOST five guns per year. Pa. Thet. Tic.
New Jersey sucks.
Posted by Drew458
on 08/17/2009 at 07:21 PM
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •
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