What could we propose to stop gun trafficking

[boltonguy]

This is a serious question. The Governor's proposed "one gun a month" bill has pissed me of that for the first time in my 37 years I have written to and called all the members of the Judiciary Committee and my State Rep & Senator. I don't enjoy being treated like a criminal and can't believe that legally licensed gun owners are the source of illegal guns in MA.

At the same time, I don't think that I have a decent counter proposal that would in some way shrink the number of illegal guns on the street. I believe in enforcement of existing gun laws and very strict penalties for the dirtbags who break them.

I'm also reassured (in general) by the licensing practices in MA with the exception of local CLEO discretion. I am reassured that there are what I see to be reasonable standards but am appaled when I hear of arbitrary or across the board denials absent a legal disqualifier. I think that licensing ought to be performed consistently with a single set of criteria applied state-wide without discretion. But I digress.

Apart from enforcement of existing laws, does the gun lobby, GOAL or any one on "our side" have a good idea about what could be implemented to shrink the supply of illegal guns in MA?

I haven't yet seen a counter-proposal to Governor Patrick's legislation and I do support the purported end result - shrinking of the number of guns in the hands of criminals in MA - but not the means that he has chosen.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Jay G]

Yeah. Start locking up the scumbags and KEEP THEM IN JAIL.

It's brilliance in its simplicity...

 

[mike5liter]

It seems to me without knowing the real source of the guns the gang bangers are using it's hard to say how to limit their access. Has anyone seen any real data on the sources of "illegal" street guns? Whatever the source is I'm sure the 1 gun a month thing will have no effect on the availability of guns on the streets. And like anything else if there is demand we will not be able to legislate the supply...

/Mike

 

[boltonguy]

I agree with enforcement as that would (hopefully by means of being a deterrent) affect demand, but my question is how do we suggest that we better deal with the supply of illegal guns?

 

[Admin]

how do we suggest that we better deal with the supply of illegal guns?

If we can't stop the flow of illegals and drugs, we will never be able to stop guns from flowing.

 

[boltonguy]

Sorry mike5liter, I think we posted at exactly the same time

Good question - anyone have any legit statistics on the source of illegal guns in MA? Would the Tiahrt amendment prohibit this type of analysis as access to BATF trace data required to aggregate these stats may fall outside the realm of an individual criminal case?

If not, how do we best determine the source? mike5liter is right, that is key.

 

[FalArAk]

There is no answer.

The trafficking of illegal goods has been going on for quite some time,and it will never stop.Guns,drugs,prostitution,you name it.

It's all here and it will never go away as long as there is a demand for it.

 

[Gabe]

There is no such thing as an illegal gun. There are only criminals, and they need to go to jail.

 

[Ripach]

I don't think you can ever stop criminals from getting their hands on firearms. Recreational narcotics have been outright banned in this country for decades, yet they are abundantly available to anyone seeking them. IMHO the real problem is repeat offenders, most articles I read about violent gun crime include the persons prior firearms violations. While life sentences may not be the answer, perhaps something between there and the six months typically served would curtail some of the problem.

Also not flaming anyone here and no offense to anyone implied, but I for one am not about to call up any antigun legislators with suggestions on better gun control.

 

[Mass-diver]

There is no answer.

The trafficking of illegal goods has been going on for quite some time,and it will never stop.Guns,drugs,prostitution,you name it.

It's all here and it will never go away as long as there is a demand for it.

I believe that if you made it a 20 year mandatory sentence to commit a felony involving a firearm, you'd see a lot of the gangs (who basically do all the shootings in MA) use more knives and bats, etc. People love drugs and love sex, I don't think any law will change that - but with these gangbangers if you make the punishment stiff enough you'll see them find other ways to kill one another. I think will violent crimes, draconian sentences are the way to go.

 

[sig shooter]

i think we could curb violence by make a concealed carry program where free classes are provided to the public to help people get there LTC, we need to get the message across that people need to protect themselves. also make MA a "will issue" state for LTC and knock down the fee to $25 but that makes too much sense for MASS. also if you are a felon caught with a gun a madatory 20yr sentence and make parol not a option.

 

[pipmaster1971]

Actually fixing the problems at their root. Longer sentances for criminals, fix the mental health system, improve the education system to give kids hope of a decent future, invest to improve business opportunities in poor areas; and hell --- maybe spend $$$$ on some social programs (ones that have been shown to work).

 

[felonsforguncontrol]

Actually fixing the problems at their root. Longer sentances for criminals, fix the mental health system, improve the education system to give kids hope of a decent future, invest to improve business opportunities in poor areas; and hell --- maybe spend $$$$ on some social programs (ones that have been shown to work).

The problem is that fixing problems at their root takes longer than the time between elections. Instead of putting high barriers to getting a gun, remove the barriers and it's tough to find a reason to buy a gun illegally versus legally.

 

[Finalygotabeltfed]

Guns are not the problem, the reasons why people use them are. Many in society have become drug addicted short fused and impolite. The gangbanger/tough guy image and mentality is widely promoted by TV and the music industry and kids watch and listen.
They grow up in environments where to survive, they think they have to be tougher than the next guy. In some cases thats true. They have been taught to settle differences with others, however minor, with a gun rather than rational discourse.....why? Because they are mostly barely functional morons who have managed to take advantage of a criminal justice system that has failed miserably to correct their bad behavior since early childhood. Many have been in and out of jail and they have no fear of it. Their life sucks and jail is actually a better place for them, off the mean streets, fed and attempted to be educated.
They are raised in unsupervised, single parent (usually female) households by women who have no clue about raising children and have no successful male mentors to look up to and/or to kick their asses when needed.
Their life is cheap and superficial with no moral compass and no goals beyond figuring out how to make themselves look "cool" to others or getting the money for their next fix of whatever drug happens to be around in quantity.

Politicians and society as a whole have failed to put and keep these people in their place, whethter that place is a jail cell or a gallows. Their is no "hardline" against these morons, just pity, apathy, and false hope with stupid programs, "walks in the park to stop violence" and more taxpayers handouts for people who have been feeding off the public teet all their lives......and more useless gun laws to f*** my and your life up.....and you want me to suggest to a politician how to further infringe on my rights????

 

[JimB]

some law changes

I heard on 96.9 FM

last week, by some district atty or rep in boston,
that if a gangbanger is on the street with a gun, he is guilty of said
crime. If he sees the cops and goes into his house its a $500
fine and thats it.,,, WHO is the idiot who thought of this lovely
loophole.

The governor is on 96.9 at 1 PM today and every 2nd thursday
with a program called "ask the governor" i SUGGEST you call..

JimB

 

[Finalygotabeltfed]

Here's another reason why your question is borderline absurd:

Want to know why teenagers are brazenly carrying guns - and using them - on Boston streets?
Ask Roxbury District Court Judge R. Peter Anderson, who just this week released on bail a teenager witnesses identified as the gunman who opened fire outside the crowded Breezeway barroom on Blue Hill Avenue Sunday night.
The bail for that suspect, who was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon after he allegedly shot a 20-year-old man in the back:
A measly $250.
That’s despite the fact that the suspect, Lyndon Scott, 18, was already out on bail in connection with an assault and battery case on which he was busted in Roxbury earlier this year, prosecutors said.


And despite the fact that Scott was stopped by cops as he was allegedly hustling from the scene of the shooting within minutes of the bullets being fired, and questioned by officers who filled out an identification card on him listing his clothing: gray hoodie sweatshirt, brown shorts, white socks, black shoes, according to a Boston police report.
And despite the fact that video surveillance later recovered by cops captured the shooter - wearing a gray hoodie sweatshirt, brown shorts, white socks and black shoes - squeeze off the rounds that hit the victim, according to yet another BPD report
And despite the fact that several eyewitnesses fingered Scott as the triggerman shortly after his arrest, according to both BPD reports.
But Scott is back on the streets. Surely that $250 in cash he put up is bound to ensure he returns to court now on two cases of violence he is charged with in Roxbury.
-------------------------------------------------------------

That a**h*** should have been held without bail PERIOD!!

 

[Joe R.]

1) Leave Tiarhert (sp) as it should be - available to LE and ATF only. There is too much potential for abuse by non-LE. Why do you think Bloomberg's group doesn't want it redone for?

2) There are some things that you volunteer for - giving these anti's ideas that they haven't thought of isn't one of them! Guys ( and gals ), what are they gonna give up if we suggest something as a better idea? They give up NOTHING while you just made your idea into gun control lite! It may be a better idea - let them feel like they found it versus the evil gun people coming up with it. You want to suggest something, give it to GOAL and let them run with the ball.

3) Mass. has lax prison sentencing for crime committed... this should be fixed. You have a guy that kills a LEO in NH that should have been rotting in a jail here in MA but was let out after a real short time. Get rid of the judges and the lawyers that mollycoddle criminals and enforce the law/punishment!

Joe R.

 

[Finalygotabeltfed]

.

 

[sksguns]

propose what you want. it will never happen. The libtards will continue to hack away at the second ammendment using the criminals that fall through their failed policies as excuses to impose even more restricitons and bans.

Attention needs to be brought to the current laws and restrictions to show how tight the control is over legal gun owners and how these bg's keeping getting away with what they do by violating the laws of the land.

It won't help, but sometimes it makes one feel better if they vent.

Illegal immigrants, drugs, firearms traffickers, terrorists and anyone and anything else will continue to come into or bring things into this country because bg's know they all can't be caught and/or intercepted and if they are the lax laws will let them out very soon so they can be back to do what they do.....

I guess what I am proposing is to get rid of all the liberals (we can send them to russia or the middle east to learn a few things about freedom) and most of this other shit will come to an end.

 

[drgrant]

Yeah. Start locking up the scumbags and KEEP THEM IN JAIL.

It's brilliance in its simplicity...

+1.... IMO it is the only strategy that will work. Target the criminal not the
device.

Trying to block access to the guns themselves, IMHO, is no different than
the same prohibition on drug use/posession. We already have seen what a
miserable failure that has turned out to be.

-Mike

 

[N.E. CHARTERS]

Offer a FREE DRUGS # for GUNS

OFFER FREE DRUGS for GUNS!


Yes Sir! For a limited time only you can get a fresh hypo shot of your favorite Heron in exchange for brinning in a Gun!


They will be lining up for Blocks!

Then when they get there Goverment Approved injection it contains a tiny micro transmitter with GPS The kind they use for Animals to track them in the wild.


Next week! Win a FREE Cruise VACATION in a warm Resort Country. (Afganistan, Packastan and others fetured holiday package: include one way steerage ticket and a free bag lunch)

 

[Erebus]

The politicians need the criminals. How else are they going to justify all the infringements on constitutionally protected rights? If they lock up the criminals and actually reduce crime they will have no excuse to continue their agenda of subjugating you and me.

 

[Admin]

What good is it to arrest the criminals when liberal judges do this?

http://massbackwards.blogspot.com/2007/07/bleeding-hearts-bleeding-victims.html

If this is the system we have the problem will always be there.

 

[RKG]

I believe that if you made it a 20 year mandatory sentence to commit a felony involving a firearm, you'd see a lot of the gangs (who basically do all the shootings in MA) use more knives and bats, etc. People love drugs and love sex, I don't think any law will change that - but with these gangbangers if you make the punishment stiff enough you'll see them find other ways to kill one another. I think will violent crimes, draconian sentences are the way to go.

I believe that if someone can do the research, they will find that the experience with the federal "felon in possession" statute bears out the wisdom of this suggestion.

 

[KMaurer]

I heard on 96.9 FM

last week, by some district atty or rep in boston,
that if a gangbanger is on the street with a gun, he is guilty of said
crime. If he sees the cops and goes into his house its a $500
fine and thats it.,,, WHO is the idiot who thought of this lovely
loophole.

The governor is on 96.9 at 1 PM today and every 2nd thursday
with a program called "ask the governor" i SUGGEST you call..

JimB

If he's got a felony conviction or is a fugitive, then he's looking at a mandatory 5 years in Club Fed (first offense, more for subsequent offenses and other situations), except that the US Attorney's office rarely if ever gets enough pressure to actually both to prosecute these cases. Maybe [all together now, from the top] if they'd just enforce the laws that are already on the books, we wouldn't need a whole bunch of new laws, regulations, programs, studies, task forces, ... .

Ken

 

[pdm]

If he's got a felony conviction or is a fugitive, then he's looking at a mandatory 5 years in Club Fed (first offense, more for subsequent offenses and other situations), except that the US Attorney's office rarely if ever gets enough pressure to actually both to prosecute these cases. Maybe [all together now, from the top] if they'd just enforce the laws that are already on the books, we wouldn't need a whole bunch of new laws, regulations, programs, studies, task forces, ... .

Ken

Jeez Ken, quit being so hard on them. You sound like you want them to do their job or something.

 

[drgrant]

It seems like FIP is an "opportunistic prosecution" at best.... the feds
run some task forces (eg, project EXILE) and the like and they get them that
way, but it seems to be patently rare that thugs caught with guns multiple
times will actually ever get hit with a federal FIP charge. My guess is
that the feds don't want to destroy their incarceration capacity, but still
want to have budgetary justification for existence of certain things. With
numerous lax jurisdictions, FIP is basically a backhanded way of states being
able to pass the buck off on the feds to incarcerate the violent criminals
properly that the state doesn't have the balls to. If the states did their
jobs in terms of properly sentencing violent criminals there would be no reason
for FIP to even exist. If one looks at a lot of federal gun law arrests in a
large proportion of the cases it is usually an individual who has already been
through the local system once or twice and let off easy.

-Mike

 

[OnTheRoad]

If there's one thing that Massachusetts can be counted on to do, that's roll over and surrender in the face of a problem rather than deal with it. Around these parts, heroin is cheaper than beer so what do our genius legislators do? Make hypodermics 100% legal over the counter. Using that logic, we should all be able to go into the local hardware store and pick up a select fire and a drum mag with food stamps.

But no, let's target the guys who are trying to do the right thing and give more handouts to the addicts. Friggin' brilliant. Unfortunately, I get the feeling that none of this will change until the "handout society" collapses under its own weight as the number of "consumers" multiplies exponentially in relation to the number of "providers".

Back on topic - how to stop unlawful trafficking? Either make it legal or do like the Soviets would have done - gulag or execution for those convicted. Ain't gonna happen though - I fear all we will see is more ridiculous knee-jerk drivel from our so-called "representatives".