NOTE: Part 2 of this series will discuss the types of “crime guns” in detail. Please hang fire on commenting on the handgun types until that post drops.
“Despite having some of the toughest gun regulations of any city in the country, Chicago continues to record thousands of shootings per year,” Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun agitpropagandists at thetrace,org report. “As President Obama has pointed out, that isn’t a failing of the city’s gun laws. The problem is that most of the guns used in crimes in Chicago come from neighboring states with lax gun laws.” That’s one theory. Here’s another . . .
The supply is not as important as the demand. In other words, as long as there are gang bangers banging in The Windy City, there will be guns with which they can bang. At least The Trace acknowledges the prevalence of these gangs and their importance to their survey:
Between 80 to 85 percent of the city’s homicides are committed with a gun. Of those murders, a “preponderance” are carried out by gang members, according to a 2015 report co-authored by Duke’s Phillip Cook.
The report is chock full of interesting if unreliable detail. But the idea that you can choke off the gangs supply of firearms by “tightening” gun laws in surrounding states is ludicrous. And misguided. But that’s how disarmists roll:
A study released last year by the city found that almost 60 percent of firearms recovered at Chicago crime scenes were first bought in states that do not require background checks for Internet or gun show sales, like neighboring Indiana and Wisconsin. Of the remaining crime guns, nearly half were purchased at three gun shops just outside the city.
Criminals use guns purchased at gun stores, eh? Well not many, apparently. According to this entirely misleading paragraph, gun store purchases account for 50 percent of 40 percent of the guns recovered at Chicago crime scenes. I make that 20 percent of the total – not the lion’s share, to say the least.
What we’re looking at in this case is either straw purchases — people buying guns at a gun store who pass a background check and then transfer the gun to a prohibited person — or guns that were legally purchased and stolen later (not sold to criminals). I wonder why someone like, say, the ATF doesn’t do something about that whole straw purchase business, then.
The Trace’s Sarah Kollmorgan also reports that 60 percent of the recovered guns were purchased in states that do not require background checks at gun shows and the internet. Yes, well, two things.
First, the vast majority of sellers using those venues DO run background checks. Second, this does NOT mean these guns were sold via the Internet or gun shows. According to the DOJ study Firearms Use by Offenders, less than one percent of “crime guns” were purchased at gun shows. A fact only obvious by its absence in Kollmorgan’s post.
One more thing: any gun confiscated by the Chicago police is considered a “crime gun.” Any place they seize an illegally held gun is a “crime scene.” I’d like to know how many firearms were confiscated from people without any criminal record…Chicago residents who bought guns illegally to defend themselves against gang bangers.
They say figures lie and liars figure. When it comes to promoting civilian disarmament, context disappears with a trace. So to speak.