ABC
Three days after the deadly 2013 Boston Marathon
explosions, investigators say bombing suspects Dzhokhar and Tamerlan
Tsarnaev used a Ruger 9mm semi-automatic handgun to murder MIT police
officer Sean Collier, carjack a young businessman, and hours later to
fire on police in a vicious gunfight. Now with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
on trial, witnesses and court documents have shed new light on the
pistol’s curious path through a criminal underground and purportedly
into the hands of the brothers who were once the most wanted men in
America.
The gun’s serial number was “obliterated” by the time U.S. law
enforcement got to it, but federal investigators were able to
forensically “raise” the numbers and trace its purchase to a gun store
more than three years ago and 100 miles from Boston.
In November 2011, Los Angeles native Danny Sun Jr. bought the 9mm Ruger
P95 at a Cabela’s hunting and fishing store in South Portland, Maine as
part of a “multi-gun” purchase, law enforcement officials and a Cabela
manager told ABC News. Sun Jr. later told police that at some point over
the next year, he gave the weapon to Biniam “Icy” Tsegai.
When Tsegai, an Eritrean immigrant, received the gun, federal
prosecutors in Maine said he and others were the target of a
multi-agency federal investigation into crack dealing out of Portland
hotel rooms. Tsegai would plead guilty to drug charges in 2014.
But back in 2012, Tsegai handed the gun off to 21-year-old Merhawi
“Howie” Berhe, according to recent testimony from Stephen Silva,
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s “best friend.”
"Sun Jr. later told police that at some point over the next year, he gave the weapon to Biniam “Icy” Tsegai. "
Licensing and registration would have made that illegal. The way things are now, Mr. Sun could simply claim that it was a private transfer and he didn't know that Icy Tsegai was a criminal.
And with your system he could simply claim he was standing on the corner, minding his own business, when somedude, who he didn't know, sucker punched him from behind, grabbed the gun, and ran.
ReplyDeleteUnder both systems he'd be committing a crime, and under both systems there would be nothing police could do.
No. The first lawful owner of the gun is responsible for it. Licensing and registration combined with universal background checks would solve much of this.
DeleteHow would licensing and registration prevent him from selling the gun and then reporting it stolen in an assault as I described?
DeleteWell, obviously if the first lawful owner is really a hidden criminal, nothing will work. My ideas of proper gun control laws are based on the presumption that most lawful gun owners are truly law-abiding.
DeleteMy ideas of proper gun control laws are based on the presumption that most lawful gun owners are truly law-abiding.
DeleteAnd yet you still want to forcibly disarm half of them.
You presume that most lawful gun owners are truly law-abiding? Well, glad to hear you've changed. Will it now be "the famous 49%"?
DeleteBut that is all beside the point--we're not talking about law abiding people. We're talking about those with no regard for the law, who are currently buying guns and selling them to known criminals illegally, and your claim that the answer to this is licensing and registration which you admit will not work to stop such people from illegally acquiring weapons for prohibited persons.
There would be no need to change the percentage. Many people who are completely law-abiding should be disarmed. Havn't I made that clear?
Delete"We're talking about those with no regard for the law, who are currently buying guns and selling them to known criminals illegally,"
The answer is indeed licensing, registration, background checks and mandatory safe storage. Those folks with "no regard for the law" had to get their guns from somewhere. They didn't magically appear in criminal hands, did they? The focus must always be on the point at which a gun passes from the legal owner to the criminal.
Licensing and registration would have made that illegal.
ReplyDeleteMuch of this was likely illegal under laws already in place--and shockingly, those laws didn't stop it. Certainly every transaction that occurred after the serial number was obliterated was a federal felony.
These are not people who are terribly concerned about staying on the right side of the law.
"Much of this was likely illegal under laws already in place--and shockingly, those laws didn't stop it. Certainly every transaction that occurred after the serial number was obliterated was a federal felony."
DeleteAs was the mere obliteration of the serial number--a felony only committed by the comically stupid.
The only thing we need to focus on is the moment when the gun passed from legal ownership to illegal. That's the problem, and it's one which stricter gun control laws could prevent - in many cases.
DeleteShouldn't this be for sale in some fake gun store in New York?
ReplyDeleteI'm sort of surprised that he hasn't been charged considering everyone else has and at the time he gave the gun to Tsegai, there was a federal investigation going on that included wiretaps. My first thought is that they cut some sort of deal to get the bigger fish.
ReplyDelete