“The Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a motion Wednesday meant to spur research into where most of the guns used in crimes in the region are coming from,” lattimes.com reports “The measure would scour L.A. Police Department’s records of guns used in crimes to find the sources of the firearms.” Who’s gonna do this scouring and how much would it cost? Not specified. But we know the purpose . . .
L.A. City Councilman Paul Kerkorian [above] wrote the measure; he says it’ll help law enforcement target “bad apple” dealers who may or may not be using shady practices to get all these guns on the streets. It comes the same day as a shooting that left two dead on the UCLA campus.
“It was ironic that we got the notification about 15 minutes before I stood up to speak on my motion and to declare National Gun Violence Awareness Day. It was pretty incredible,” Krekorian told KPCC.
So what kind of “targeting” does Councilman Kerkorian (no Doctor Death jokes, please…different spelling) propose? He’s working on that . . .
“If we were to determine, for example, that there are a few gun dealers either in Los Angeles or elsewhere, that are responsible for guns — a disproportionate number of guns — getting to our streets, then we could consider options with regard to those gun dealers, whether it be a civil lawsuit, whether it be enforcement measures, either by local or state or federal officials. There’s any number of different solutions that might be appropriate depending on what the information is that we find in the study,” Krekorian said.
As we’ve pointed out before, there’s no evidence that gun dealers whose firearms end up at crime scenes sold those guns illegally. Needless to say (for TTAG’s Armed Intelligentsia, anyway) it’s a crime for gun dealers to sell guns illegally (e.g., without performing a criminal background check). Which is one reason they don’t.
“Across the country, I think people are really crying out for more action, and this is another step forward in trying to lay the foundation for that kind of action,” Krekorian said.
Councilman Kerkorian’s measure is designed to set up gun dealers for government harassment and to curtail lawful firearms sales. It’s just another example of California gun control gone wild. If this anti-gun jihad wasn’t a matter of life-and-death for Golden State residents, and a clear infringement on their natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms, it would be funny. But it isn’t.