We know this, but it’s nice to see a newspaper editor admit it.
Criminals don’t buy their guns in stores
Mark Sprowl [“How many guns are enough?”] cited the recent slaying of a Hanover teen by another teen as a case against the repeal of Virginia’s one-gun-a-month law. In our state, one cannot purchase a handgun in a store below the age of 21. Therefore, logic would dictate that the shooter (who was 19) acquired his gun illegally, through a private seller, or by presenting false identification to the store clerk.
Regulations do not stop criminals from getting guns; they simply prevent law-abiding citizens from exercising their Second Amendment rights. Criminals generally obtain their weapons from friends and acquaintances or by stealing them because any gun bought in a store can be easily traced back to its original buyer. Although there are special cases (like that of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords) where criminals purchase their weapons through stores, most criminals won’t make that mistake.
A 2004 study by Jim Kouri, the fifth vice president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, interviewed prison inmates who divulged where they obtained their guns. Only 8 percent said they bought them in stores, while 39 percent said they obtained them illegally and nearly 40 percent claimed they had bought them from friends or family.
Sprowl’s heart is in the right place, but most guns aren’t bought in stores. If criminals aren’t buying their guns in stores, how would stricter gun regulation preclude incidents of violent crime?
The primary purpose of gun control laws is not to reduce crimes against the public. It is rather to diasrm the public, making voters dependent on government for protection.
Government offers little protection. The police solve few crimes except through informers. They cannot get to your home in time to save you from an assault by an armed criminal.
Then there is the cop who raped the woman who had called for help. With no weapon, the woman was helpless.
Everyone knows this in the gun control movement’s leadership. They do not care. They see the goal of a helpless, disarmed public as more important than crime-reduction. These people want power. An armed public restricts their extension of power.
Very true! Also, parents have to be more careful where they stash their legal weapons. Don't make it easy for your children, regardless of age, to get them. There have been crimes committed by those who have "stolen" their own parents guns.
Be aware, parent gun owners!!!
There has never been any question about the fact that it is a bout power and not safety. Every nation that has ever disarmed it's populace has done it to have complete control to the extent that the disarming is usually followed shortly thereafter by genocide of some sort. So any time some pro-control politician starts talking about doing it for the public's safety, they mean their own safety. Whae they say "common sense gun control", there usually is no common sense involved. It's just like any time they say "We're doing this for your own good", they mean they're doing it for their own good. The only part of gun control that actually means anything and about which any pro-gun control politician is being honest, is the control part.
We as American citizens who are threatened to have out guns made illegal need to remember this, the war with Japan ended because they knew that every household in America were equipped with guns. We must keep our guns, for our own protection. This is a right given to us by GOD.
Start safety training your child early and start training them how to handle and shoot a gun. When they are old enough to be left home alone, they should be well trained enough to be able to access a gun and defend themselves against thieves and those that would do bodily harm to them inside the home.
Proper gun control = hitting your target!
Brings to mind two old saws:
Ted Kennedy's Olds has killed more people tha all my guns combined.
And:
An atheist gun control advocate who hears his front door being broken at 2AM does two things, calls someone with a gun to come help and prays that they will arrive in time.
Excellent comment Daniel. I refer readers to the video "Innocents Betrayed," available at jpfo.org.
Never again!
When our guns are confiscated, we who will need them for protection, hunters and sports shooters will be the ones to suffer.The criminals if they do not have a gun to do their dirty work can use anything at hand, an ax,a hammer, a knife and will be able to get their job done