Posted on 05/20/2008 11:52:29 AM PDT by PROCON
Officials want state to keep closer watch on violent parolees who may buy weapons
As outraged politicians called for an investigation Monday into how a violent parolee got his hands on a semiautomatic rifle and shot three people at a Granada Hills church festival, frustrated law enforcement officials admitted what has become painfully clear - if criminals want guns, they'll find them. Despite some of the country's toughest gun laws, California's violent ex-cons, like Fernando Diaz Jr., 33, have no problem arming themselves.
"Unless you assign police with him every day, there was no way to know this guy had a gun," said Capt. Steve Ruiz of the LAPD's Devonshire Division. "There is no record of the gun being registered or stolen. We don't know where it came from."
Diaz, a parolee and former North Hollywood Boyz gang member, has a violent history stretching back 10 years.
With a .22-caliber semiautomatic rifle, on Saturday Diaz shot his girlfriend, Carolina Mendoza - who is also the mother of his child - and two others as they prepared for a festival at St. John Baptist de la Salle Catholic Church, police say.
His weapon was one of thousands of guns sold and traded in the city's booming black market - with pistols, revolvers and other firearms regularly changing hands, officials say
(Excerpt) Read more at dailynews.com ...
You’re right; look how well that has worked in D.C. and NYC. /sarc
Why would you hide a firearm "disguised as a routine cocaine shipment"? The feds are looking for cocaine shipments...even the routine ones. I did hear from an FBI special agent that gang members are joining the military and funneling M16s to their "homies". The southern California gangs are building a big arms cache with the intent of unleashing hell when they feel they are sufficiently armed.
We need a one strike rule. Get caught with a gun while on parole, and you get mandatory life with no parole.
***As outraged politicians called for an investigation Monday into how a violent parolee got his hands on a semiautomatic rifle and shot three people at a Granada Hills church festival, frustrated law enforcement officials admitted what has become painfully clear - if criminals want guns, they’ll find them. Despite some of the country’s toughest gun laws, California’s violent ex-cons, like Fernando Diaz Jr., 33, have no problem arming themselves.***
DUH! YA THINK?!
It is already illegal for felons to have any firearms. This rule just simply needs to be enforced. Of course, the fact that any violent felon gets parole to begin with shows there is a huge enforcement problem already.
It was supposed to be sarcasm. If we can't stop cocaine from coming in, we will not stop guns and bullets either
Guns would be fairly easy. Disassembled parts coming in with shipments of other kinds of machine parts would be hard to spot. Or just have an unemployed machinist MAKE guns
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