This is something very common in urban areas with heavy gun control:
The same gun used in Monday’s point-blank assassination on a crowded Midtown street also sprayed a dozen rounds into a Queens home three years ago, cops said Tuesday.
This doesn’t mean the same guy did the driveby that did the hit the other day. It might be, but there have been many cases where one murderer is in prison while the gun he used killed again on the streets.
You see gang members don’t always have their own gun. Not only is supply and demand a factor, but also there are legal reasons. You see if a gang member is stopped, he’s likely a felon, so an altercation he might get out of, will likely turn into jail time for gun possession. So these guys steal a gun, then stash it in a public place and let their gang friends know where it is. Then it becomes a gangland version of a library book! They “Check it out” then go do some mayhem, then return the gun. This means other people can commit crimes with the gun, but also it can make law enforcement’s job harder. If they find where the gun is stashed, they have a hard time pinning it to a single suspect. They catch a suspect with the gun, and link it to a series of crimes, well the suspect might have an alibi for some of them, adding reasonable doubt to some of the more pliable jury members….possibly to the prosecutor, making him more willing to offer a plea.
And the gun supply can be damn slim, and yet the gang violence continues. So Gun control laws have a minimal effect on violent crime.
Of course we all know what the laws DO effect…lawful people defending their lives from the gangs.
I rest my case!
