Posted on 06/18/2023 8:46:36 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
One of the big problems we have in this day and age are felons getting guns. Bad guys with firearms can do bad things. We all know this, even if we figure not everyone who has a gun illegally is going to kill or even shoot another person.
The issue is that gun control is supposed to stop that.
In Maine, there’s been a lot of talk about anti-Second Amendment regulations. Despite being a pretty blue state, it’s also one with a long history of opposing gun control. Recently, an effort to pass some failed there.
Much of this push follows a mass shooting in the state, one that rattled a lot of people.
Yet one publication, the Bangor Daily News, decided to look at how felons actually get guns
Research and public records offer a limited glimpse into the ways restricted people are getting their guns.
One method is so-called straw purchasing, in which someone else buys the guns for a prohibited person. In a rare example of bipartisan gun control, Congress tightened the penalties for straw purchasing last year in the wake of the Uvalde, Texas, shooting.
Johnathan Nathans, an assistant U.S. attorney based in Maine, said that he’s anecdotally seen “a real rise” in straw purchasing in recent years, often connected to drug crime.
“You have people that are vulnerable, that don’t have a criminal history at all, and they are being asked by people, oftentime drug dealers, to go and purchase firearms for them,” Nathans said. “So they’re going in and purchasing one or two or more firearms, and then those firearms are quickly being handed over to a prohibited person.”
Court records offer some examples of this, such as a Massachusetts trafficker forgiving the drug debts of someone who bought seven guns in southern Maine, or a Brewer pawn shop worker falsifying records for 16 straw purchases.
Guns also can be acquired illegally by theft, borrowing or private purchase. That could be from a close acquaintance, the black market, classified ads or gun shows. Maine does not require background checks for private gun sales, and various proposals to enact them have been rejected by voters and lawmakers over the years.
A 2012 study of 253 people incarcerated for gun crimes found that about 40 percent were previously prohibited from having them. Those participants only occasionally got their guns from stores or pawn shops, and none reported using gun shows. Most were obtained from friends, family and dealers on the street — and were usually purchased or borrowed instead of stolen.
However, it should be noted that the “dealers on the street” typically were selling stolen guns. The person arrested didn’t steal them, but that’s not to say they weren’t stolen.
Now, with that said, it’s important to note that on just about everything else, what was presented isn’t unlikely what we already know to be true.
But let’s also address the idea of background checks for private sales. The idea that is seemingly presented here is that felons would be caught up if they were required.
The problem with that is that they already note that a lot of them get them from friends and family. In other words, they’re buying them from people who probably already know they’re prohibited from buying a firearm. That’s already a crime. You don’t need more laws.
However, I applaud them for acknowledging that much of the problem does come from illicit means like straw purchases or theft. That doesn’t get a lot of attention from the media.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s still an anti-gun bias here; a real feeling that the felons aren’t the problem, the lack of regulation is, but at least there’s some acknowledgment of what we actually know regarding how these felons get guns despite all the laws already in place.
It would almost be refreshing without the hints of desire for universal background checks.
Maine has turned into a leftist hell hole
I seem to remember an article it might have been in Chicago where the police said it wasn’t worth their time to go after baby mammas who provided guns to their boyfreinds. I guess the baby mammas claim they stole it.
Gun control under the guise of “public safety”.
I was working a few months ago when a couple came in to the store. She was a citizen and spoke perfect English. He was an illegal alien and spoke no English. They were browsing and looking at guns. He wanted to see one closer so I asked him if he was a citizen or had hi green card. She translated and he said no. I told him that he could not purchase a firearm and he said that he could get one from a fiea market ( which has a LOT of Mexicans/south of the border types. When I told them both that he could not legally possess a firearm and I would not sell her one, they seemed unperturbed and just said that they would get one at the fiea market and left.
Maine used to be lily white and few people even knew a black person.
“How do felons get guns?”
Mainly through government hare-brained ideas like ‘Operation Fast and Furious’ or ‘Operation Wide Receiver’ prior to that. *Rolleyee*
Very informative list here, of all that’s been ‘legislated’ since 1791 (2nd Amendment ratified!) to try to control gun sales - sometimes lumping felons and Patriotic 2A Americans, together...with a few WINS along the way - usually SCOTUS strike-downs of state laws banning guns.
1791
The Bill of Rights, including the Second Amendment, gains final ratification.
The Second Amendment reads:
“A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
1837
Georgia passes a law banning handguns. The law is ruled unconstitutional by the state’s Supreme Court and is thrown out.
1865
In a reaction to emancipation, several southern states adopt “Black codes” which, among other things, forbid Black persons from possessing firearms.
1871
The National Rifle Association (NRA) is organized around its primary goal of improving American civilians’ marksmanship in preparation for war.
1927
The U.S. Congress passes the Miller Act, a law banning the mailing of concealable weapons.
1934
The National Firearms Act of 1934, regulating the manufacture, sale, and possession of fully automatic firearms like sub-machine guns is approved by Congress.
1938
The Federal Firearms Act of 1938 places the first limitations on selling ordinary firearms. Persons selling guns are required to obtain a Federal Firearms License, at an annual cost of $1, and to maintain records of the name and address of persons to whom firearms are sold. Gun sales to persons convicted of violent felonies were prohibited.
1968
The Gun Control Act of 1968 is enacted for the purpose of “keeping firearms out of the hands of those not legally entitled to possess them because of age, criminal background, or incompetence.”
The act regulates imported guns, expands the gun-dealer licensing and record-keeping requirements, and places specific limitations on the sale of handguns. The list of persons banned from buying guns is expanded to include persons convicted of any non-business related felony, persons found to be mentally incompetent, and users of illegal drugs.
Continues:
https://www.thoughtco.com/us-gun-control-timeline-3963620
WRONG!!!
Gun control is supposed to inhibit or prevent HONEST CITIZENS keeping and bearing arms. The gun controllers are NOT innocently trying to prevent crime; they are nefariously trying to disarm We the People.
The number one gun “crime” in New Jersey is having one without permission from the almighty state.
What do they fail to understand about “shall not be infringed”?
Execute all drug dealers, from street hustler to kingpin. Trial, sentencing, appeal and execution to be completed withing twelve months.
“They buy a pistol brace..?“
Only when they want to change the caliber of the gun into a high caliber machine gun. Says Brandon.
Were “background checks” used in 1791? Were there “prohibited people” in 1791? If you have to pass a background check before you exercise a right, then you are really having to get the government’s permission to exercise that right. If you have to get the government’s permission then it isn’t a right at all because the whole point of a right is that you don’t need permission to exercise that right. So currently we do NOT have a second amendment right and have not had one ever since background checks were put in place.
Same for voting and getting elected to public office.
shall not be infringed.
no such thing as an illegal gun.
possession is not the crime, how it is used is the crime and make the penalty fit...
if one is out, rights are restored.
“How do felons get guns?”
Step one: Get let out of jail.
If the Earp brothers and pal were alive today things would be better.
Between you and I, I don’t believe for one second reducing crime is really why the Gun Grabbers want to grab all the gunsPrecisely. And once they grab your guns and gun crime not only doesn't go away but goes up, they'll blame it on your zip code and call you a racist for it. They want the issue, not a solution.
Most were obtained from friends, family and dealers on the street — and were usually purchased or borrowed instead of stolen.... which means that if every legal gun sale were shut down and every legal gun was confiscated tomorrow, there'd still be gun trafficking amongst criminals. But we didn't need the Bangor Daily News to tell us that.
Totally agree, it’s about Control of the Law Abiding Citizen, from fighting a Trynical government. When do we start?
Read later.
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