ATF Report Renews Calls for Gun Control

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Randy Davis

New member
June 25, 2000

ATF report renews calls for gun control

By Gary Fields

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration, citing a new federal report indicating that corrupt gun dealers and gun shows are illegally distributing tens of thousands of weapons each year, renewed its call Wednesday for a range of gun-control measures.

The report, based on a survey of 1,530 investigations by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms from July 1996 through December 1998, found that a disproportionate number of firearms entering circulation because of illegal trafficking came from corrupt licensed dealers.

Such dealers accounted for 133 of the investigations but were linked to 40,365 of the 84,128 firearms involved in the investigations.

There are about 106,000 gun dealers licensed by the federal government. As a condition of their licenses, they must conduct background checks on prospective gun buyers. Federal officials say that in many instances, licensed dealers are neglecting to do such checks before making sales.

Clinton administration officials said the trafficking study showed the need for states to license gun buyers. Potential buyers would have to take gun safety courses and have background checks conducted on them before receiving a license.

That was one of nine gun-control recommendations that Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers made to states in light of the report. Summers also urged states to:

* Require that anyone buying a firearm at a gun show undergo a background check. There are 4,400 gun shows in the USA each year.

* Toughen penalties for federally licensed dealers found to be corrupt.

* Create provisions to prosecute ''straw'' purchasers: People who buy guns legally, then turn them over to people who have not had background checks.

* Make sentences more severe for major traffickers. ''Currently, a trafficker responsible for a thousand firearms faces the same penalty as a trafficker responsible for 50 firearms,'' Summers says.

The ATF said that gun shows, which usually include licensed and unlicensed dealers, accounted for nearly 26,000 illegally trafficked firearms during the 2½-year period surveyed. Almost half the gun-trafficking investigations tracked by the ATF involved straw purchases.

John Velleco, of Gun Owners of America, said the gun-control plans being floated by the administration ''only apply to law-abiding citizens. The criminal doesn't care about licensing or gun bans or gun shows.''

Kristen Rand, director of federal policy for the non-profit Violence Policy Center, which supports gun control, says extending background checks to all gun sales, not just those made by licensed dealers, would be a more effective strike at illegal trafficking.

The Clinton administration acknowledges that its proposals will be a tough sell in a Republican-controlled Congress that has been reluctant to endorse gun-control measures.

That was apparent Wednesday when the House voted 218-207 to prevent the federal government from spending any money for the Communities for Safer Guns Coalition, a group of 411 localities that made Smith & Wesson its gun of choice for law enforcement in return for the company's promise to use gun-safety devices.

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© Copyright 2000 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
 
In other (old) news, NKVD has been authorised to execute people for thinking anti-Soviet thoughts. That makes us very concerned: now the malcontents who actually voiced their thoughts are merely executed, same as those who only thought them...harsher penalties are needed.
 
They may not like registration and liscencing when they try it.

"What are the limitations of licensing and registration?
Licensing systems are very expensive to administer. Canada's experience with its full licensing and registration system, begun in December 1998, is not encouraging. The government originally estimated that the cost of licensing Canada's three million gun owners and registering their seven million guns would be $185 million [Canadian] over five years including a one-time start-up cost of $85 million [Canadian]. But, by March 2000 the Canadian Firearms Centre admitted that the system had already cost Canadian taxpayers $327 million [Canadian] and was running up an annual bill nearly 10 times higher than the government's original forecast. The March announcement also revealed that although 270,000 valid licenses existed from the country's earlier gun control system, only 142,000 new licenses had been issued. Using these figures as a baseline for America's arsenal of 65 million handguns, the estimated cost of such a system here is staggering.'

--The Violence Policy Center
 
So because people are breaking the law we need more laws? That's some really clear thinking.
 
"* Create provisions to prosecute ''straw'' purchasers: People who buy guns legally, then turn them over to people who have not had background checks."

Excuse me, but isn't it already a _felony_ to participate in a straw purchase?

The only "provision" the feds need to prosecute straw purchasers is to get off their bloated asses and enforce the existing law.

I'm so sick of this s**t.
 
Putting ATF in charge of gun control policy is like putting David Duke in charge of civil rights policy.
 
PS,

To Glock-A-Roo (nice name btw)

The "existing" law is unconstitutional, and I for one don't just want to not see it
enforced, I want to see it repealed.
 
The ATF is simply lobbying for more money and more power. More ATF jobs.

The loss of our freedoms is merely a by-product of someone's desire for a raise.

I don't believe it is a grand conspiracy- just a lot of selfish little people slowly sucking away at the public trough, draining it of our freedom in the interest of their own personal financial security.



[This message has been edited by MountainGun44 (edited June 26, 2000).]
 
Sen. Trent Lott slipped up on Hardball tonight and referred to, "... Attorney General Janet Ringo ... er,... Reno."

:D Finally, a Senator who, however accidentally, told it like it is! :D
 
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