Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Portland on the Cutting Edge of Gun Control


Mayor Sam Adams of Portland Oregon who also wears the hat of Police Commissioner, has some interesting gun control proposals.

The three new laws that he's proposing: A child safety law that would hold adults responsible if their gun gets into a child's hands, a theft reporting law that would penalize gun owners who don't report the theft or loss of a firearm; and an exclusion zone measure that would designate shooting hot spots in the city, and allow the city to exclude gun offenders who are on probation or under juvenile authority from entering a public area or park within the hot spot locations, unless they live in the area, go to school, obtain social services or travel through it.

The two other measures would amend city code: a special 7 p.m. curfew for juveniles who have been convicted of a gun offense, found to have possessed, purchased, used, transferred or transported a firearm unlawfully; and placing a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 days in jail for previous gun offenders found carrying a loaded gun in a public place, which includes a vehicle or on transit. This would not affect concealed-handgun license holders. Right now, the court has discretion to sentence a violator for up to six months in prison, and a fine up to $500, but it's rarely done. 
Some of this is apparently cutting edge stuff.

David Kennedy, director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the exclusion zones for gun violence is unique. "There's lots of research and common sense that would say that would be worth trying," Kennedy said. "Ordinary folks do not shoot people with guns. Those who do, usually have prior convictions. So it's a very intriguing idea." 
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

7 comments:

  1. hahahahahahahahaha

    Not gonna fly. It's called preemption.

    Ya might want to look it up.

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  2. Kaveman,

    Since when has that mayor ever worried about the law on his anti-gun crusade?

    "Ordinary folks do not shoot people with guns. Those who do, usually have prior convictions. So it's a very intriguing idea."

    Or, we could just leave the convicts in jail. How's that for a cutting edge idea?

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  3. I can agree with most of those regulations. I will only say the following, if required to report a stolen weapon, it should also be required that there are officers on staff, solely devoted to finding these missing weapons, convicting those who are in possession of said weapons, and those who stole these weapons. This way, once all proceedings are finished, in regards to these stolen weapons they can be returned to their rightful owner.

    I say this, because I had someone break into my home, used my reciprocating saw to cut the lag bots holding the gun safe to the floor, just to steal the gun safe. Now they left a junk computer, but took televisions (3), the gun safe, a few video game consoles (PS2, Xbox 360, and laptop computer), all the change in the house, and a few crystal knickknacks that belong to my Mom. I called the police, they responded, took a report, and asked if I had pictures of the items (guns included). I guess that explains the "gunloons" "fascination" with taking pictures of their guns. In any event, I recovered everything but the guns, and change. As far as the police are concerned the guns are reported stolen, and nothing else will come of it, until they are used.

    So I have one other thing to list, since we must have a dedicated department in law enforcement. They must run a check on all firearms, sold, traded, or pawned to gun stores, and pawn shops, even transfers. It takes five to fifteen minutes.

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  4. Anonymous, Thanks for that personal account. I think that special unit of Police should also inquire as to the storage methods employed by the gun owner. In your case you'd have passed with flying colors, but I'd like to see the average joe who leaves his guns in the night stand table or under the bed go right to jail for making the theft too easy.

    How's that sound to you?

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  5. kaveman, contratulations for sending us a comment we could post. Was that an accident?

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  6. MikeB: “…but I'd like to see the average joe who leaves his guns in the night stand table or under the bed go right to jail for making the theft too easy.”

    Well, that’s certainly going to make people want to call the police when their guns are stolen...

    Look Mike, legitimate owners of anything of value who have it stolen are going to want it returned. They are going to want to call the cops, especially if it is a gun and could be used in a crime. There is no evidence to suggest otherwise. The people who don’t call the cops are the ones who weren’t allowed to own a gun in the first place, or didn’t really have it stolen (your straw purchaser). What you are talking about will only compound the problem by making theft victims afraid to call the police for fear of going to jail.

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  7. I gotcha TS, but how do we encourage people to be responsible for the storage of their guns?

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