So Joan has been putting up a lot of boilerplate, and this post is no different.
Same old crap. This pro-gun group is crazy, a few people did bad or stupid things with guns, so we should ban them all, and such-and-such pro-gun shell group’s poop smells like warm apple pie.
Still in her lining up of bad gun events I was looking for one big news story, and she went there!
Though Illinois and Chicago have strong gun laws, shootings are still happening in the large urban areas. Guns come from outside of Chicago and the state of Illinois where the gun laws are looser and get trafficked. If Congress would Finish the Job and pass a bill to require background checks on all gun sales, some of this would be stopped. But we aren’t even trying to solve the problem.
What does she link as evidence? This NYT Story which says, I quote:
Chicago is seen as having some of the most restrictive gun ordinances in the country. Gun shops are banned, and no civilian gun ranges exist. There is a ban on both assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. But more than 15,000 of the guns traced by the police came from just outside the city limits in Cook County and in neighboring towns that permit gun stores.
Inside the state accounts for almost half of all the crime guns recovered. Still the myth of the “Iron Pipeline” is just that, a myth. You see guns move about because people move about and they bring the things they own. If Jay were to have guns stolen or otherwise traced by the ATF most of his guns would trace to Massachusetts, I’m sure a few might trace to Maine or New Hampshire as well because you can legally go to those states and buy guns from gun shops, and that’s where the ATF trace will end. I have never owned guns in any other state but Massachusetts. I learned to shoot in Maine, but I didn’t buy my first until I was a Mass resident. Most of my guns will indeed trace to Mass on an ATF trace, but not all of them because I have bought guns in New Hampshire and Maine…I don’t think I’ve ever bought a gun in Vermont, but I’ve been gun shopping there lots of times.
Hell just look at the ATF Data: Florida, New Hampshire, Vermont, Utah, Arizona, they all look the same. Most of the guns trace back to that state, but lots of other states show up on the trace, and given how gun friendly these states are, when another state shows up it’s likely a MORE RESTRICTIVE state.
By the “Iron Pipeline” theory, criminals are LEAVING gun friendly states to buy guns in states where it is much more difficult to acquire guns. Make sense to you?
Here’s a better one, look at Alaska and Hawaii, again Alaska is one of the most gun-friendly states, and the only way to get from the lower 48 to Alaska is through Canada, or by air or sea. Hawaii it’s Only by Air, and the #1 non Hawaii state supplying guns is CALIFORNIA! So, again under the iron pipeline theory criminals are leaving Hawaii and going to MORE restrictive (in relative terms) California, and rather than say going a short distance (again in relative terms) to Nevada, or Arizona to score their illegal payload, they buy guns in California?
No, most of the crime guns by how we consider it are guns FROM the state where the crime was committed, just how the ATF system works it APPEARS that the guns come from other states. The really big tell is the “Time to Crime” stats. The overwhelming majority are 10+ years. Here’s another economic lesson for the “Iron Pipeline” cult. Let’s say I make durable goods, say hand tools like hammers and wrenches. I make them here in Massachusetts but I sell them to a hardware chain that has stores in all 50 states. Can you make economic sense in any form where most of my Hammers only get sold after they’re 10+ years old?
So now look at what Joan is crowing about! She wants universal background checks, and Illinois HAS THAT LAW! You need an FOID to buy guns or ammunition in that state, and if you can’t pass a NICS check you don’t get to have an FOID, and you can’t buy a gun. Almost all the guns come from inside Illinois, even when they trace to other states.
OMG!!111!! CRIMINALS DON’T FOLLOW THE LAW!!11!! Hell the state of Illinois doesn’t follow the law, so the “Common Sense” solution? MORE LAWS!
Broken Record!
