Thursday, May 22, 2008

Gun retailer point of view

This article is told from a retailers point of view. Of course there are honest gun shops out there, but that's ignoring the issue that there are plenty of people going into the honest shops and buying multiple guns to sell on the street for profit because there are such lax restrictions on what people with a clean record can buy. It's akin to white collar crime. These people even if there are only a few, get away with it for years, providing a steady stream to the street because the police are obstructed in investigating multiple purchases due to the fact that they're legal. These straw purchasers as they're called, go in and buy 5 handguns at a time and then turn around and sell them to corner slingers that turn them around to kids or angry individuals that turn around and shoot eachother and others with them. And there's no requirement to report them lost or stolen, so even if one shows up and is tracked back the original buyer, they only get a lecture. There's only been one incident that I've ever heard of where a straw buyer got caught and jailed as an accomplice to a crime. If anyone has heard of other cases I'd appreciate hearing about them.

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