San Bernadino Terrorism and Radicalization

[kandrathe]

Or is there something I am misunderstanding?

These NFA trust transfers are more likely the recipients of a deceased relative leaving a large collection to his heirs. In the past 82 years, two gun related crimes involved NFA trust weapons. While, 90,000 seems like a big number until you compare it to the 20 million backgrounded applications processed in the US every year (.045%).

But here’s what just happened that Obama won’t brag about to the media; the ATF just eliminated chief law enforcement officer (CLEO) sign off from the NFA process, making it easier to acquire silencers, machine guns, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and items classified as “any other weapon.” CLEO sign-off has been a major impediment in many states where owning NFA weapons is perfectly legal, but anti-gun sheriffs and police chiefs have been able to block their citizens from obtaining NFA items by simply refusing to sign-off on their acquiring items that they were otherwise qualified to own.

The anti-gun lobby is as good at distorting the facts as are the pro-gun lobby. For example, the often cited statistic of 20% of vendors at Gun Shows being unlicensed, which is dramatic and distressing until you discover that they sell books, gun safes, or trigger locks and not guns. People who sell guns as a livelihood are required to be licensed, wherever they sell the weapons. All licensed sellers are required to do background checks on every gun sold. Are there unlicensed "gun brokers" breaking the laws? Yes. I think there are a small minority, which are a small problem for the ATF to ferret out with existing laws. Is this the root of gun violence in the US? Not in any way.

Where do criminals (felons) get their guns? A Duke University study examined this recently, and it turned out they get them from friends and relatives they trust who will not rat them out. This article in the my local newspaper highlights some of the issues. Minnesota is one in a growing number of states that are implementing better laws relating to straw purchases, but proving it is an intentional crime is difficult. I guess, gun laws here in the US would be like the autobahn in Germany, there is often no penalty for driving fast, only for being irresponsible which can be considered a crime and the offender might receive a prison sentence (of up to 5 years). We may need to crack down harder on the people who enable the criminals(felons) to get guns. In fact, as evidenced by the article above, it is often the licensed gun dealer who involves the ATF in suspicious individuals attempts to purchase weapons.

I'm for meaningful measures to prevent gun violence, which would be things such as;

1. Increasing the size of the ATF/FBI effort looking to foil rogues planning domestic terrorist acts.
2. Buy back programs in large population centers to remove excess handguns from the streets.
3. Vastly improved the means by which society and mental health professionals can temporarily intervene into a potentially mentally incompetent persons violent capabilities.
4. Increase the penalties on straw purchasers who buy guns that are used for crime (as opposed to just a gift.)

I believe these measures taken by Obama are political theatre meant to mollify the masses into believing he cares about the issue and to cement some "progress" into his legacy. Maybe I'm overly cynical, but I think the tears were disingenuous.



Homicide rates per 100,000 people continue to fall in the US and Canada, yet are disturbingly high in Mexico. These mass shootings are newsmakers, and get extra attention. This motivates the politics to "do something about it". The bottom line is that in order to prevent the aberration crimes of a small fraction of a small fraction of a percent of gun toting criminals, you would need to vastly curtail the freedoms of everyone. Sort of like everyone having to remove their shoes to be xrayed before getting on a plane, or being prevented from bringing a bottle of soda onto the plane because of one incident. It's unwarranted security theater meant to give a veneer of safety and public trust.

The one thing the President and I agree upon is that smart id technology is getting close to making it possible to have safe biometric locks. I'd be cautious of mandating such biometric devices, but I would like to see some encouragement for more widespread use of this technology for all dangerous items (e.g. cars, chainsaws, lawnmowers, guns, etc). So for example, I have a gun safe, and I hide the keys in a place that only I (believe I) know about. It would provide me marginally more peace of mind for me to have a biometric lock. It would potentially prevent many accidents by people not coded to the weapon.