Philly.com reports
The pro-gun crowd often ridicules the suggestion of reporting stolen guns as something useless. I completely agree with that. What's needed to make it effective are sanctions. If gun owners had to pay, say a thousand-dollar fine, for each stolen gun, they'd be more careful about safe storage.That, the mayors fear, would be the consequence of bills pending in the state House and Senate that would penalize municipalities for enacting gun-control ordinances that go further than existing state law.
Nutter, along with the mayors of Chester, Lancaster, and Allentown - all cities which, like Philadelphia, now require gun owners to report lost or stolen weapons - spoke against the legislation at a news conference and met privately with legislators to urge them to reject the bills.
Safe storage laws are problematical because it's all about what happens inside a man's home. But, making them pay for abetting the thieves, would have a positive impact.
Well then, in that case, no one would report the stolen gun, you say? There's an obvious solution for that. Registration of guns. If guns were registered to specific licensed owners, those owners would be responsible for them in a way they aren't today.
In this way, one of the major supply chains of guns flowing from the legal world to the illegal world would be severely diminished.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Criminal activity is already banned but now you want to punish crime victims even further by making us pay a fine if we are the victim of a burglary? How about doing something sane like actually trying to catch the crooks instead of robbing the victim twice.
ReplyDeleteHow exactly is a gun registry going to stop crime? Besides supplying you with a list of victims you get to re-victimize and giving the government a handy list of where to confiscate guns from when they manage to pass some gun ban. Criminals aren't required to incriminate themselves so they wouldn't register their guns. Again you've suggested a law that punishes those who follow the law and does nothing to reduce crime.
Home storage laws would cut down on theft and accidents.
DeleteRegistry of guns would eliminate straw purchasing.
You're so busy defining yourself as a victim, you can't see straight.
My suggestions would not apply to criminals, for the simple reason as you yourself pointed out, they don't obey the laws. But, these requirements are not punishments. They're sensible ways to keep guns out of criminal hands.
These mayors are promoting local laws that violate state law. Why are you defending that? The law of the State of Pennsylvania preempts local laws. It's that simple. The legislation in question merely imposes a fine for not following the law.
ReplyDeleteMikeB: “Well then, in that case, no one would report the stolen gun, you say? There's an obvious solution for that. Registration of guns.”
ReplyDeleteOk, what happens when no one registers their guns?
There is a huge problem with different municipalities having different firearms laws. First of all, it will be impossible for citizens to keep it straight and avoid becoming "criminals". Second and more importantly law enforcement won't even be able to keep it straight.
ReplyDeleteConsider the insane situation with colleges and universities in my state for example. At a couple universities, they have declared it a crime to have any firearm anywhere no matter who you are unless you are a law enforcement officer on duty. Some other universities have policies prohibiting firearms but they do not have authority to make statutes so a violator is guilty of trespassing. And yet other campuses allow people with concealed carry licenses to carry anywhere except into buildings. Now imagine municipalities adding additional layers.
Fining victims of crimes sounds great. Should probably fine people who have their wallets stolen, the money could be going to support any criminal activity. Or how about fining someone when their car or identity is stolen. Those both can be used in more crimes.
ReplyDeleteWhat it seems to be is only putting another burden on legal gun owners.
Not at all, this is about demanding that gun owners be responsible. Too many of them are not able to muster the common sense todo it on their own and need to be constrained.
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