THE GUN MAN, HOW EASILY CRIMINALS BUY GUNS

SOMEWHERE IN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A STATE THAT THE BRADY CAMPAIGN RANKS #9 IN GOOD RESTRICTIVE GUN LAWS, THE "GUN MAN" PLIES HIS WARES...

"The "Gun Man" drives through [CHICAGO] streets, selling pistols from the back of a light-blue van.

Not far away in Chicago's South Side, Federal agents arrested a different man, a licensed gun dealer, on charges of selling weapons illegally to undercover officers in dark alleys and crumbling garages. 
Before he was caught, the authorities say, he sold hundreds of firearms to gang members and anyone else with fistfuls of dollars.  

In yet another part of the city, a gang leader explains how easy it is to buy one, no questions asked...

The river of illegal weapons running through the streets of Chicago, AS ELSEWHERE, is fed by many tributaries. Those who help legally-made guns flow into illegal hands include a small minority of crooked gun dealers, gun runners who bring in weapons bought in the suburbs or out of state, brigades of burglars and flea-market traders who are happy to sell to any customer.  

Two years ago James M. Ryan was one of the 270,000 Americans with a Federal firearms license. 
He had traveled the Midwest buying weapons from gun shops. He took them back to Chicago, where most handgun sales are illegal, and sold the guns in alleys and parking lots. He was tracked down after three pistols recovered in a gang shooting were traced to his home business in the Englewood section of the South Side, the neighborhood with the most homicides in the city last year. 600 Guns From One Man

ILLINOIS, CONNECTICUT, NEW YORK, MASSACHUSETTS AND CALIFORNIA ARE AMONG THE 10 STATES WITH THE STRICTEST GUN LAWS.
 April 17 2013
For the fifth year in a row, the Brady Campaign has issued a 100-point scorecard ranking all 50 states on the basis of laws that can reduce gun violence, such as background checks on all gun sales, permit-to-purchase requirements and limiting handgun purchases to one a month.

AT #9, ILLINOIS. 

With rare exceptions, buying and selling a handgun has been illegal in Chicago since 1983.

In Illinois, there is a three-day waiting period for receiving a handgun after purchase and a 24-hour waiting period for shotguns and rifles. 

Last year, the Chicago Police Department confiscated 22,660 illegal guns. 

AT #5, CONNECTICUT
Remember Sandy Hook?

AT #4, NEW YORK
Violence in New York is "legendary", isn't it?

AT #3, MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Marathon Bombing 

AND WHICH STATE RANKED #1 FOR GREAT 'GUN LAWS'?
WHICH STATE DID THE BRADY CAMPAIGN PRAISE MOST HIGHLY?

AT #1, CALIFORNIA!

The state known for the strictest gun laws is California. 

In California, all firearms sales, transfers, including private transactions and sales at gun shows, must go through a California licensed firearms dealer.

California is another state notorious for violent crime.

THE 5 OTHER STATES ROUNDING OUT THE STATES THE BRADY CAMPAIGN APPLAUDS:

~ AT #10, PENNSYLVANIA

~ AT#8, RHODE ISLAND

~ AT #7, MARYLAND

~AT #6, HAWAII

~ AT #2, NEW JERSEY


 If you compare the states' Brady rankings, and JUST  their FBI crime rankings, there is an inverse relationship between the strictness of gun laws and low violent crime rates. 

FBI VIOLENT CRIME RATES SHOW MORE RESTRICTIVE STATES HAVE MORE CRIME.
In other words, looking at just these stats, stricter gun laws correlate with higher violent crime rates. 

BUT THAT ISN'T ALL WE NEED TO TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION.

HOMICIDES, aka, MURDERS

IN 2015, THE CITIES WITH THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF MURDERS WERE: 

#1~ EAST ST. LOUIS, ILLINOIS.
21.5 TIMES THE NATIONAL RATE IN MURDERS.

#2~ CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY
THE BRADY CAMPAIGN RANKED NEW JERSEY'S RESTRICTIVE GUN LAWS IN THEIR TOP 10 BEST STATES.

#3~ GARY, INDIANA

#4~ CHESTER, PENNSYLVANIA

#5~ SAGINAW, MICHIGAN

#6~ FLINT, MICHIGAN

#7~ DETROIT, MICHIGAN

#8~ TRENTON, NEW JERSEY

#9~  NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA

#10~ NEWARK, NEW JERSEY

This list factors in reported crimes from ALL 17,000 law enforcement agencies across the country, including homicides reported by ALL of the multiple law enforcement agencies who may have law enforcement responsibility IN ALL OR PART of a community:

As you’d expect, a majority of the cities on this list also appear on this year’s ‘100 Most Dangerous Cities’ list, with a few exceptions. 

These include: 
(City name, followed by rank)

-Barberton, OH 26, 
-East Chicago, IN 15, 
-East St. Louis, IL 1, 
-Petersburg, VA 23, 
-Wilkes-Barre, PA 18, 
-York, PA 21, and 
-Youngstown, OH 29. 

These are all relatively small cities — none of them with populations exceeding 70,000.

BACK IN CHICAGO, IN AN INTERVIEW WITH A REPORTER FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES, A GANG LEADER LAUGHED AT THE NUMBER OF GUNS CONFISCATED BY POLICE AND COMPARED GETTING A GUN TO GETTING A BURGER AT A DRIVE-THROUGH WINDOW.

"We get half our guns through trade-ins with dope fiends," said a gang member on the South Side. "If you wanted a gun right now, we could put in an order and you'd have it. It's like going through the drive-through window. 'Give me some fries, a Coke and a 9-millimeter.' "

A few years later, another "dope fiend" approached him and said he knew how to get a large number of guns. 

The addict said he planned to break into the home of a retired Chicago police officer.

Two days later, the addict returned with a box full of guns.

"We took all 27 for $1,000," the gang leader recalled. "We got a hell of a deal."

ANOTHER GANG MEMBER ALSO LAUGHED AT GUN LAWS AND CONFISCATIONS.

"That don't mean nothing," said a 19-year-old gang member who would identify himself only as Zeke. "You can still get anything you want out here. Anything from a homemade .22 to a grenade. I found a .38 in the grass. I sold it for $100."

When they cannot find them in the grass, gangs get guns by trickery and by theft, by bribery and by intimidation. They often pay or force men who are legally entitled to buy guns to buy weapons for them.  

GUNS WILL ALWAYS BE AVAILABLE TO CRIMINALS.

Just outside the city, a middle-aged gun shop owner, who also insisted that his name be withheld, shook his head as he talked about guns and the easy access to them by gang members and other criminals.

"America is going the way of Rome," he said. "You'll never be able to stop guns, just slow them down. There's too much money to be made selling them in the streets.
You want to know where the money is in this business?
It's not on my side of the counter."

He said he had been selling guns over the counter for more than 20 years, filling out the proper purchase forms, checking customer identification, calling the police when someone suspicious walks in.

"That's why I'm almost broke," he said. "I've been obeying the law."

"Getting a gun in Chicago is as easy as jumping into Lake Michigan," said the Rev. Paul J. Hall.
 Since October, Mr. Hall has been offering residents of the area $25 in food coupons to turn in their guns.
So far, he has collected about 30 pistols and shotguns.

Larry Lawson, a gang member, laughed when he heard about Hall's offer.

"The only time you're going to turn in your gun is when you've already taken care of your business with it," he said. "Then you just go out to the corner and get yourself another one."

AN OCTOBER, 2015, ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN U.K. CARRIED THE HEADLINE, 
"It took me two hours to get my hands on an AK-47. Welcome to America"

IN WHICH STATE DID HE BUY SUCH WEAPONS?
IN THE STATE WITH THE TOUGHEST GUN LAWS...CALIFORNIA.

"It’s not hard to get your hands on illegal guns and rifles in America. It took me about two hours. I called a guy from the old neighborhood in LA, said something about a “piece”, and, hours later, I was staring at an AK-47 and an illegally modified AR-15, which were sitting on a kitchen table."

CONTRARY TO MEDIA HYPE, SINCE THE "ASSAULT GUN BAN" WAS LIFTED  , CRIME RATES ARE DOWN, LOWER THAN IN THE PAST 25 TO 50 YEARS, AS THE STATS SHOW.

 In 2014, 328 persons were murdered in New York City. Yet this figure is down a breathtaking 85 percent since 1990, when 2245 homicides were recorded. 

Chicago's 2014 figure of 392 homicides is down 58 percent from 1991, when 922 homicides were recorded. 

The 2014 Los Angeles figure of 264 homicides is down 76 percent from 1992, when 1092 homicides were recorded, even though its population has increased from 3.4 million to 3.9 million during this time. 

The latest homicide figures for these cities are the lowest since solid data began to be collected in the 1960s.   

Lest we forget...
Federal Assault Weapons Ban (1994–2004) - Banned semiautomatic assault weapons and large capacity ammunition feeding devices.
The law expired in 2004.
The ban on assault weapons was lifted in 2004, and crime rates dropped almost immediately, although politicians who favored the ban pointed to the inability to conclude whether the ban had increased or reduced crime. 

"The final report concluded the ban’s success in reducing crimes committed with banned guns was “mixed.”

CDC FAIL   
Here are some key findings from the CDC report Obama asked for after Sandy Hook, titled “Priorities for Research to Reduce the Threat of Firearm-Related Violence,” released in June, 2013:

1. Armed citizens are less likely to be injured by an attacker.

3. Mass shootings and accidental firearm deaths account for a small fraction of gun-related deaths, and both are declining.
[Remember , this was in 2013.]

4. “Interventions” (i.e, gun control) such as background checks, so-called assault rifle bans and gun-free zones produce “mixed” results:

“Whether gun restrictions reduce firearm-related violence is an unresolved issue.” 

The report could not conclude whether “passage of right-to-carry laws decrease or increase violent crime.”

5. Gun buyback/turn-in programs are “ineffective” in reducing crime.

6. Stolen guns and retail/gun show purchases account for very little crime:

“More recent prisoner surveys suggest that stolen guns account for only a small percentage of guns used by convicted criminals. … According to a 1997 survey of inmates, approximately 70 percent of the guns used or possess by criminals at the time of their arrest came from family or friends, drug dealers, street purchases, or the underground market.”

7. The vast majority of gun-related deaths are not homicides, but suicides:

“Between the years 2000-2010 firearm-related suicides significantly outnumbered homicides for all age groups, annually accounting for 61 percent of the more than 335,600 people who died from firearms related violence in the United States.”

REMEMBER, OBAMA WENT TO SPECIAL AND GREAT LENGTHS TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR THE CDC TO CONDUCT THIS STUDY. 
IT WAS SUPPOSED TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR THE FEDS TO CONFISCATE AMERICANS' FIREARMS, WITH THEIR CONSENT.

THE CDC JUST COULD NOT ACCOMMODATE THE PREZ!

What are opponents of the Second Amendment doing about the new data? Perhaps predictably, they’re ignoring it. 

President Obama, Michael Bloomberg and the Brady Campaign remain silent. 

Most telling of all, the various media outlets that so eagerly anticipated the CDC research are looking the other way as well. 

One must wonder how media coverage of the CDC report may have differed, had the research more closely fit an anti-gun narrative.

Unfortunately, mainstream media failed to get the story they were hoping for, and their silence on the matter is a screaming illustration of their underlying agenda.

"NO WAY TO DETERMINE THAT STRICT GUN LAWS REDUCE CRIME"

The above article is by 'FactCheck.org", that website Romney hated, remember?

Interesting reading on how both sides manipulate data to prove the unprovable.

ANYONE WHO SAYS OTHERWISE HAS BEEN DISPROVEN.
WE JUST CAN'T GATHER THE DATA NEEDED TO BE CERTAIN, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.

TO HELP PROVE A POINT, WHICH WE WILL GET TO IN A MOMENT, HERE ARE
CITIES WITH LOWEST CRIME RATES:

TOP 5 SAFEST CITIES, OVERALL CRIME RATES

As opposed to our most dangerous cities ranking, which is based on violent crimes – what makes cities really dangerous - this ranking is about safety from all crimes. Here cities are ranked by overall crime rate, which includes both violent and property crimes. Types of crimes taken into consideration are: burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, homicide, rape, armed robbery, and aggravated assault.

AND WHAT POINT DOES THIS PROVE?
TWO OF THOSE CITIES ARE INDEED IN STATES WITH STRICT GUN LAWS.
AND YET, WITHIN THOSE SAME STATES ARE CITIES LISTED AS "MOST DANGEROUS", OR, AS WE SAW EARLIER, CITIES WITH THE HIGHEST RATES OF HOMICIDES.

SO...DO GUN LAWS DETER CRIMINALS?
CAN WE SAY YES OR NO, UNEQUIVOCALLY, BASED ON THIS DATA?

NO, WE CAN'T.

WITHIN THE SAME STATE, ONE CITY IS QUITE PEACEFUL, ANOTHER IS A WAR ZONE OF CRIME.

WITHIN A CITY, SOME NEIGHBORHOODS NEVER EXPERIENCE VIOLENT CRIME, OTHERS SEE IT ON A DAILY BASIS...WHETHER PEOPLE  ARE ARMED OR UNARMED, GUNS OR NO GUNS.

EVEN WITHIN A FAMILY UNIT, MAYBE JUST ONE PERSON HAS A "BAD TEMPER", OR MAYBE ALL DO, OR NONE DO.

WHETHER OR NOT ANY ARE ARMED IS A MOOT POINT...IT ALL COMES DOWN TO INTENT...TO A CHOICE EACH MAKES...TO BEHAVE IN A CRIMINAL FASHION, OR NOT...TO BE NON-VIOLENT, OR NOT, TO KILL, OR NOT.

IT ISN'T BEING ARMED, MY FRIENDS, THAT CAUSES A MURDER...IT'S ABOUT DECIDING TO KILL.

WHEN A HUMAN BEING MAKES THE CHOICE, DECIDES TO KILL, LAW OR NO LAW, GUN OR NO GUN, SOMEONE WILL DIE.

I FOUND IT INTERESTING THE DAY I LEARNED THAT "CRIMES OF PASSION" RARELY INVOLVE GUNS.
THOSE ARE A BIT MORE VIOLENT AND PROLONGED EVENTS.
CRIMES OF PASSION ACCOUNT FOR ABOUT 41% OF ALL MURDERS, ACCORDING TO THE FBI STATS.

• Of the murders for which the circumstance surrounding the murder was known, 41.8 percent of victims were murdered during arguments (including romantic triangles) in 2010. 

Professional Opinion From Veteran FBI Agent Steve Moore

"Some of the hallmarks of these crimes [of passion] are highly disorganized crime scenes, where little, if any attempt has been made to conceal evidence or hide one’s identity. 

No planning is evident.

These are also sometimes called “clustered” crime scenes.  

A clustered crime scene is a location where the initial confrontation, the attack, the rape and the murder occurred at the same location, sometimes all within one room.  

Another hallmark of the crime of passion is that the murder weapon is almost always nearby or at hand.  

Whether it is a blunt object, a kitchen knife, or a pair of scissors, the assailant usually avails himself of the nearest makeshift weapon he can find within arm’s reach. 

 Sometimes, the person carries a weapon with them habitually. 

But rarely if ever do they bring a weapon with intent to use it to kill.  

That is because the attacker hadn’t planned the crime."

WHY DO WE KILL?
NOT BECAUSE WE OWN A GUN.

THINK ABOUT ALL THE PEOPLE YOU PERSONALLY KNOW WITHIN THE CIRCLE OF YOUR FAMILY, FRIENDS, COWORKERS AND NEIGHBORS WHO OWN FIREARMS.

HOW MANY HAVE MURDERED ANYONE USING THOSE WEAPONS?

AFTER AN INCIDENT OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN OUR SECLUDED TINY COMMUNITY IN WHICH NO ONE WAS KILLED, A POLICE OFFICER STOOD WITH SOME OF US WHO WERE CONCERNED AND SAID THAT WAS JUST THE 3rd TIME IN 30 YEARS THERE HAD BEEN ANY PROBLEMS OUT HERE IN OUR RURAL COMMUNITY.
THE OTHER TWO WERE DRUG-RELATED, HE SAID.

FROM WHERE THE COUNTY ROAD LEAVES THE STATE HIGHWAY, FORKS INTO TWO NARROW ROADS, WHICH BOTH DEAD-END, THERE ARE 108 HOMES SCATTERED ALONG.

ROUGHLY, 230 ADULTS LIVE OUT HERE...AND EVERY SINGLE HOME IS A HOME THAT HAS FIREARMS.

3 CRIMINAL ACTS IN 30 YEARS, 2 INVOLVING FIREARMS, NO ONE DIED.

NO ONE DIED BECAUSE NO ONE MADE THE CHOICE TO KILL ANYONE.
ONE FELLOW ESTIMATED OVER 600 'LEGAL', REGISTERED FIREARMS IN THE 108 HOMES: HUNTING RIFLES, MUZZLE-LOADERS, ANTIQUES.

SOME REMARKED THAT MANY COLLECT GUNS AS ART, MENTIONED A FEW CLASSIC BEAUTIES OF THE 'GUN WORLD'.

108 OR 600...NOT ONE HAS KILLED...BECAUSE NOT ONE PERSON HAS DECIDED TO USE ONE TO KILL.

FIRST, WE PICK UP THE WEAPON....THEN COMES THE DECISION.

RICHMOND, CALIFORNIA TRIED A RADICAL APPROACH TO GUN VIOLENCE AND IT SEEMS TO HAVE WORKED...
In 2007, the low point, there were 45  homicides involving a firearm in the city of 106,000. Finally, it decided to try something entirely new:
Richmond hired consultants to come up with ideas, and in turn, the consultants approached Devone Boggan. 

It was obvious that heavy-handed tactics like police sweeps weren't the solution. 

More than anything, Boggan, who'd been working to keep teen offenders out of prison, was struck by the pettiness of it all. 
The things that could get someone shot in Richmond were as trivial as stepping out to buy a bag of chips at the wrong time or in the wrong place. 
Boggan wondered: 
'What if we identified the most likely perpetrators and paid them to stay out of trouble?'   

 Four times a year, the program's street team sifts through police records and its own intelligence to determine, with actuarial detachment, the 50 people in Richmond most likely to shoot someone and to be shot themselves. 

ONS tracks them and approaches the most lethal (and vulnerable) on the list, offering them a spot in a program that includes a stipend to turn their lives around. 

While ONS is city-funded and has the blessing of the chief of police, it resolutely does not share information with the cops.  
It was a crazy idea. But since ONS was established, the city's murder rate has plunged steadily. 

In 2013, it dropped to 15 homicides per 100,000 residents—a 33 year low. 

In 2014, it dropped again. 

Boggan and his staff maintained that their program was responsible for a lot of that drop-off by keeping the highest-risk young men alive—and out of prison. 

Now they have a study to back them up.

Researchers from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, a non-profit, published a process evaluation of ONS, studying its impact seven years in. The conclusion was positive: "While a number of factors including policy changes, policing efforts, an improving economic climate may have helped to facilitate this shift, many individuals interviewed for this evaluation cite the work of the ONS, which began in late 2007, as a strong contributing factor in a collaborative effort to decrease violence in Richmond."

As evidence, the study cites the life-changing effect on 'fellows'. 

Ninety-four percent of fellows are still alive. 

And perhaps just as remarkable, 79 percent have not been arrested or charged with gun-related offenses during that time period.

"While replication of the Fellowship itself may be more arduous because of the dynamic leadership associated with the current model, the framework of the Fellowship could be used to improve outcomes for communities across the country," the study's authors wrote.

MANY WILL CALL THAT BRIBERY ON THE PART OF THE CITY AND EXTORTION ON THE PART OF THE 'SHADY ELEMENT'.

BUT THIS SMALL STUDY SHOWS, LIKE TOO MANY OTHER STUDIES TO LIST, WHAT MUST CHANGE IN ORDER TO STOP HOMICIDES IS NOT REMOVING GUNS...IT'S REMOVING THE DECISION, THE CHOICE, THE DESIRE TO KILL FROM HUMAN MINDS.

IF A HUMAN BEING DECIDES TO KILL, A WAY WILL BE FOUND.
HOW MANY CAVEMEN DIED "BY ROCK"?
POISONING WAS A FAVORITE METHOD FOR AWHILE IN OUR HUMAN HISTORY.

LIZZIE BORDEN TOOK AN AXE...

HOW ABOUT THOSE NUKES?

HOW DO WE CHANGE THAT?

WHAT WOULD CHANGE THAT?

CAN ANYONE CHANGE THAT BUT THE HUMAN BEING WHO THINKS ABOUT MURDER, WHO DECIDES TO KILL?

NEVER.

NOW WHAT? 

OH, BTW, HOW LONG HAVE WE HAD A "BAN" ON MURDER?
HOW LONG HAVE WE HAD STRICT LAWS THAT PUNISH MURDER, EVEN WITH DEATH OF THE MURDERER?

HOW WELL HAS THAT WORKED?  

NOW WHAT?

GUN CONTROL?

NO...MIND CONTROL...SELF-CONTROL...STOP CHOOSING "KILL!"

_________________________________________

OTHER SOURCES, STATS, ETC

~FBI EXPANDED HOMICIDE DATA, U.S.

• In 2010, in incidents of murder for which the relationships of murder victims and offenders were known, 53.0 percent were killed by someone they knew (acquaintance, neighbor, friend, boyfriend, etc.); 24.8 percent of victims were slain by family members. The relationship of murder victims and offenders was unknown in 44.0 percent of murder and non-negligent manslaughter incidents in 2010. (Based on Expanded Homicide Data Table 10.)
  
• Of the female murder victims for whom the relationships to their offenders were known, 37.5 percent were murdered by their husbands or boyfriends. (Based on Expanded Homicide Data Table 2 and 10.)
  
• Of the homicides for which the FBI received weapons data, most (67.5 percent) involved the use of firearms. Handguns comprised 68.5 percent of the firearms used in murders and nonnegligent manslaughters in 2010.
  
  Expanded Homicide Data Table 4—"Murder, by Victim/Offender Situations, 2010"
  

• Expanded Homicide Data Table 8—"Murder Victims by Weapon, 2006–2010"
  
• Table 20—"Murder, by State, Types of Weapons, 2010"
• 
  
• 
  

~  An expert on crime gun patterns, ATF agent Jay Wachtel says that most guns used in crimes are not stolen out of private gun owners' homes and cars. "Stolen guns account for only about 10% to 15% of guns used in crimes," Wachtel said.
 Wachtel says one of the most common ways criminals get guns is through straw purchase sales. A straw purchase occurs when someone who may not legally acquire a firearm, or who wants to do so anonymously, has a companion buy it on their behalf.

~STATS, CRIMES OF PASSION ON THE RISE