How Gun Laws REALLY Work

I feel like Looking at the ugly underbelly of gun culture for a bit. I found this story from the an Anti-Gun twitter feed.

Jose L. Alvelo, whose address was unavailable, was awaiting arraignment late Thursday in Reading Central Court on charges of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, drug offenses and discharging a firearm in the city….Alvelo fired three shots into the ground during a confrontation with his cousin, Jose Reyes, 23, who lives in the block. No one was injured.

A pistol recovered at the scene belonged to Alvelo, who had a permit to carry the weapon.

The Antis are pumping their fists because it shows a permit holder committing a gun crime. First up nobody is saying permit holders DON’T commit crimes, just that they commit crimes at a lower rate than the general population….or the police force for that matter. (Two good data sets here and here)

So here we have an idiot with a CCW and a gun who gets in an argument, brandishes his gun and discharges it 3 times into the ground. He also had some drugs on him (obviously something he hasn’t been convicted on otherwise the permit would be invalid).

He fired 3 rounds and nobody was hurt. The drugs were discovered, and he faces multiple serious charges. For this he’s going to lose his permit, as well as all the guns he may have, and likely will never be legally allowed to touch a firearm for the remainder of his life. He very well may also face some Jail time, and certainly a healthy fine.

This is how gun control laws work. They don’t STOP anything, what they do is punish people for doing bad things. Furthermore they set guidelines for how people can conduct themselves. Permit holders commit less crimes than the general population NOT because they’re angels, but because they have more to lose from getting caught. I knew a few kids in College who got pinched for felonies. They got in drunken brawls, they got pinched dealing drugs. Minor things, as minor as felonies go. They really didn’t seem to care much, why? Because after the fines were paid and the community service was done (I think one of them spent a weekend in jail) that was it. They may have to explain to a future employer that they sold some pills while in college, but otherwise its not a huge deal.

Now take somebody like me. I’m a gun blogger, why? Because I like guns. I own guns for fun, as a collector, and for personal defense. I have lots of carry permits, and a non-trivial amount of money riding on them. I carry a gun every day because I know its a wise move.

With even the most chickenshit felony I lose ALL of that. Now some people are stupid and don’t think. They get weeded out pretty quick.

The antis look at this as a reason for MORE gun control simply because it happened. Oddly enough Murder still happens. People still buy and sell drugs. People still buy and sell sex. People still rape, and sexually assault minor children. People drive over the speed limit. People illegally sell and use firearms.

Laws don’t PREVENT crime, they simply allow us to punish people once they commit crime.

This story, as unfortunate as it is, is a success story.

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0 Responses to How Gun Laws REALLY Work

  1. LMB says:

    In a sense, it’s kinda darwinian. The idiot in question is “weeded out” of the gun owning population by his own stupidity, but nobody got hurt.
    So, yea, I’d say this is basically a victory. Unfortunately, the gun grabbers will use it as grist for their mills in their effort to ban all guns. Odd that they don’t do anything about the violent misuse of many other tools, though.

    • Weerd Beard says:

      Unless we can trust EVERYBODY, NOBODY (well nobody but Rich Connected people) can have ANY rights.

      Of course they don’t want to expand that discussion to anything BUT guns (they don’t even like talking about violence that isn’t at the point of a gun). The Gun is different, because the gun is different.

      I mean because we have people committing slander and libel, obviously the free speech should have “Common Sense Controls” which includes registration and taxation.

      Because criminals conceal evidence of their crimes we obviously need “Common Sense” controls on that pesky 4th Amendment.

      Hell because the neighborhoods that are 90+% black are some of the most dangerous places in my state, and many others, that whole Emancipation thing probably needs some “Common Sense” too, right?

      Of course those who support freedom know the world isn’t a safe place, and for you to live free some goon with drugs, a gun, and a bad temper also needs to live free. Frankly its a small price to pay, given those neighborhoods I was talking about its damn near impossible to GET a gun LEGALLY, yet people keep getting shot.

      So really the expense to society is actually NOTHING as bad people will do bad things no matter what the laws say, but good people will follow the law no matter how stupid they are. Its a no-brainer.

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