A Simple Observation

 

If half the stuff the anti-2nd Amendment advocates claim were true, all of the left-leaning media outlets would being doing hidden camera exposés on it. We would be inundated with stories of underage kids, felons, and other prohibited individuals purchasing guns. Everyone talks about the “gun show loophole” but nobody produces evidence of it.  That’s because they know better. The system works 99.98 percent of the time.

Published in Guns
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  1. Judge Mental Member
    Judge Mental
    @JudgeMental

    I saw a guy tonight repeatedly refer to ‘completely unfettered access to guns’.  As if.

    • #1
  2. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    Don’t be silly, EJ. It was only about ten years ago that a bunch of straw buyers were easily able to purchase guns and take them down to Mexico….

    • #2
  3. Jules PA Inactive
    Jules PA
    @JulesPA

    I don’t know the details, but a guy was recently arrested in my area for selling guns outside a local gun show.

    It happens, but it is still overrated.

    What the law needs to do though is bust his a$$. 🐎🔨

    • #3
  4. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    The internet abounds lately in graphics that tell you it’s harder to get cold medicine or vote than it is to buy a gun. Apparently Voter ID passed in all 50 states, so we got that going for us.

    • #4
  5. DocJay Inactive
    DocJay
    @DocJay

    TBA (View Comment):
    Don’t be silly, EJ. It was only about ten years ago that a bunch of straw buyers were easily able to purchase guns and take them down to Mexico….

    I recall the ATF/FBI telling the owners to sell away to those fellers.

    • #5
  6. DocJay Inactive
    DocJay
    @DocJay

    James Lileks (View Comment):
    The internet abounds lately in graphics that tell you it’s harder to get cold medicine or vote than it is to buy a gun. Apparently Voter ID passed in all 50 states, so we got that going for us.

    We are getting stingy with our narcotic cough syrup these days.  “I’m sorry Ms Smith, no Tussionex for you, but this Ruger Mini-14 can sure help your wheeze out with it’s 100 round drum mag of armor piercing tracer bullets”.

    • #6
  7. Judge Mental Member
    Judge Mental
    @JudgeMental

    DocJay (View Comment):

    James Lileks (View Comment):
    The internet abounds lately in graphics that tell you it’s harder to get cold medicine or vote than it is to buy a gun. Apparently Voter ID passed in all 50 states, so we got that going for us.

    We are getting stingy with our narcotic cough syrup these days. “I’m sorry Ms Smith, no Tussionex for you, but this Ruger Mini-14 can sure help your wheeze out with it’s 100 round drum mag of armor piercing tracer bullets”.

    Do I need a prescription for that?  Can you hook me up, Doc?

    • #7
  8. Mike LaRoche Inactive
    Mike LaRoche
    @MikeLaRoche

    So I can go down to Walgreens and buy an AR-15? Cool.

    • #8
  9. Judge Mental Member
    Judge Mental
    @JudgeMental

    Mike LaRoche (View Comment):
    So I can go down to Walgreens and buy an AR-15? Cool.

    That’s the cheerleader, right?

    • #9
  10. Mike LaRoche Inactive
    Mike LaRoche
    @MikeLaRoche

    Judge Mental (View Comment):

    Mike LaRoche (View Comment):
    So I can go down to Walgreens and buy an AR-15? Cool.

    That’s the cheerleader, right?

    Yep! 😎

    • #10
  11. Matt Balzer Member
    Matt Balzer
    @MattBalzer

    James Lileks (View Comment):
    The internet abounds lately in graphics that tell you it’s harder to get cold medicine or vote than it is to buy a gun. Apparently Voter ID passed in all 50 states, so we got that going for us.

    I voted today, took me at most five minutes. I guess I have to buy a gun for science and time it.

    • #11
  12. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    DocJay (View Comment):

    TBA (View Comment):
    Don’t be silly, EJ. It was only about ten years ago that a bunch of straw buyers were easily able to purchase guns and take them down to Mexico….

    I recall the ATF/FBI telling the owners to sell away to those fellers.

    Easy mistake, could have happened to any semi-accountable federal-level three-letter agency.

    • #12
  13. Boss Mongo Member
    Boss Mongo
    @BossMongo

    It’s easier to buy a Glock than a book.  Obama told me so.

    • #13
  14. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    James Lileks (View Comment):
    The internet abounds lately in graphics that tell you it’s harder to get cold medicine or vote than it is to buy a gun. Apparently Voter ID passed in all 50 states, so we got that going for us.

    I don’t know if that’s true, but if it is, to me it says more about how ridiculously hard states have made it to get cold medicine (Sudafed and its equivalents), not because it’s too easy to buy guns.

    [Though the claim that it’s harder to get cold medicine than it is to buy a gun just doesn’t pass the most rudimentary smell test.]

    • #14
  15. Dr. Bastiat Member
    Dr. Bastiat
    @drbastiat

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):

    James Lileks (View Comment):
    The internet abounds lately in graphics that tell you it’s harder to get cold medicine or vote than it is to buy a gun. Apparently Voter ID passed in all 50 states, so we got that going for us.

    I don’t know if that’s true, but if it is, to me it says more about how ridiculously hard states have made it to get cold medicine (Sudafed and its equivalents), not because it’s too easy to buy guns.

    [Though the claim that it’s harder to get cold medicine than it is to buy a gun just doesn’t pass the most rudimentary smell test.]

    It’s possible that it should be harder to buy cold medicine than a gun.  Sudafed is used to make crystal meth.  How many people are killed each year by crystal meth?  How many are killed by guns (not counting suicides)?  I’ll bet Sudafed wins by a lot, so Sudafed should be more tightly controlled than guns.  Simple.

    Careful with all this, though.  There’s really no end to it – we’ll end up banning everything from fast food restaurants to bathtubs to cars to I can’t even imagine what.  The effort to further and further insulate ourselves from the dangers of the real world has very serious downsides, and is impossible in any case.

    • #15
  16. Spin Inactive
    Spin
    @Spin

    Matt Balzer (View Comment):

    James Lileks (View Comment):
    The internet abounds lately in graphics that tell you it’s harder to get cold medicine or vote than it is to buy a gun. Apparently Voter ID passed in all 50 states, so we got that going for us.

    I voted today, took me at most five minutes. I guess I have to buy a gun for science and time it.

    It takes more than 5 minutes.

    I had a gun on consignment at a local gun shop, and I picked it back up last week.  Took me 30 minutes.  Took me 5 minutes to answer the online questions, but I know all the answers now, so….

    • #16
  17. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Dr. Bastiat (View Comment):
    It’s possible that it should be harder to buy cold medicine than a gun. Sudafed is used to make crystal meth. How many people are killed each year by crystal meth? How many are killed by guns (not counting suicides)? I’ll bet Sudafed wins by a lot, so Sudafed should be more tightly controlled than guns. Simple.

    I understand there are sites on the internet that provide instructions for how to synthesize hard-to-obtain Sudafed from easily obtained crystal meth.

    • #17
  18. JimGoneWild Coolidge
    JimGoneWild
    @JimGoneWild

    I went by a lemonade stand where you could get a 50 round mag. with every fill up.

    • #18
  19. Hypatia Member
    Hypatia
    @

    I’m worried about The Don on this one.  Is he gonna go soft, like he did about the DACA aliens? I’m afraid as a paterfamilias,  he has some weakness where “helpless kids” are involved.  He is right to focus on mental illness and raising the age for firearm purchase.

    Our populace must never be disarmed. Or “the shot heard ’round the world” is muffled forever.

    • #19
  20. Columbo Inactive
    Columbo
    @Columbo

    • #20
  21. Jeffery Shepherd Inactive
    Jeffery Shepherd
    @JefferyShepherd

    Jules PA (View Comment):
    I don’t know the details, but a guy was recently arrested in my area for selling guns outside a local gun show.

    It happens, but it is still overrated.

    What the law needs to do though is bust his a$$. 🐎🔨

    Yes but that is not the gun show loophole.  The gun show loophole is actually a unicorn.  What you are describing is alleged criminal activity.  To wit: Selling to a felon or selling many guns making it his livelihood in which case he needs a license and needs to do background checks on the buyers.

    • #21
  22. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    Dr. Bastiat (View Comment):
    It’s possible that it should be harder to buy cold medicine than a gun. Sudafed is used to make crystal meth. How many people are killed each year by crystal meth? How many are killed by guns (not counting suicides)? I’ll bet Sudafed wins by a lot, so Sudafed should be more tightly controlled than guns. Simple.

    But the people who overdose on crystal meth are doing it to themselves.  While about 2/3 of gun deaths are self-inflected, 1/3 are not.

    • #22
  23. Danny Alexander Member
    Danny Alexander
    @DannyAlexander

    Anyone on here knowledgeable about whether there have been any successful class-action suits, or ones that are still dragging through the courts and aren’t likely to reach any real conclusion during our lifetimes?

    (I mean suits where the plaintiffs/parties to the class action are private citizens, with no states’ attorneys-general taking part, and where the defendants are firearms manufacturers.)

    I know that there’s been talk bandied about, among those of the gun-grabbing persuasion, of trying to sink the firearms manufacturers financially via lawfare, and maybe even some of the manufacturers have felt themselves forced to move operations from states with gun-hostile governments to more welcoming locales.

    But I don’t have any recollection of any massive class-action tort proceeding being brought — at least, not one given decent odds for success, and with tens of thousands (let alone millions) of private US citizens aggregating as the plaintiff(s).

    I’m asking about this because, along with the exceedingly salient observation EJHill provides us here in the OP about the glaring absence of any factual undercover media expose over the years, I’m wondering whether we can add that the anti-2nd-Amendment movement has also not gotten any such tort action out of the starting blocks, not simply due to the Constitutional/Bill of Rights jurisprudence factors but also because the facts don’t support and can’t comport with the claims the gun-grabbers would wish to advance.

    Put differently, I don’t personally recall ever seeing Robert Vaughn on the TV at 2:30AM, in between Key & Peele rerun segments, telling me to phone the number on my screen and arrange a free consultation with The Law Offices of Ambew, Lance & Chase about the cash settlement I or a loved one may be entitled to as a consequence of the nefarious negligence of Colt, Glock, Ruger, S&W, etc.

    Ammirite?…

    • #23
  24. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    @dannyalexander

    In short, they are protected by the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. The only case that’s been successful is one where a woman’s family specifically told a gun dealer that she was a schizophrenic and should not be in possession of a gun and he sold it to her anyway.

    • #24
  25. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    JimGoneWild (View Comment):
    I went by a lemonade stand where you could get a 50 round mag. with every fill up.

    Just so they pay their taxes.

    • #25
  26. CarolJoy Coolidge
    CarolJoy
    @CarolJoy

    Two words: Honduras, Switzerland. Similar population, but Honduras has 137 times the murders per one million people than Switzerland. I wonder why that is? Oh yea, I know why! It’s because Honduras has some of strictest gun laws. Switzerland is one of the least strict in gun laws.

    • #26
  27. CarolJoy Coolidge
    CarolJoy
    @CarolJoy

    Also I find it rather frightening that the same aged populace that almost runs me off the road while they are on the cell or other device now claims the wisdom to understand gun laws.

    Far more people per year have been the victims of roadway accidents  since the cell phone technology went into their cars.

    There is also the technology in existence that could be placed inside each car or truck, so that the ability to communicate with others is blocked off once the car is going over 20 mph. But the cell industry makes so much money and no car manufacturer wants to be the first to help outlaw “death by device” car accidents, as their profit margins would drop while the other car brands took their market share.

    • #27
  28. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    CarolJoy (View Comment):
    Also I find it rather frightening that the same aged populace that almost runs me off the road while they are on the cell or other device now claims the wisdom to understand gun laws.

    Far more people per year have been the victims of roadway accidents since the cell phone technology went into their cars.

    I take your overall point about the wisdom of the youth, and the stupidity of texting while driving, but I’m not so sure about your second sentence.  The fatality rate per hundred million miles traveled is half of what it was 30 years ago.  2015 and 2016 saw an uptick, but cell phones have been around for longer than three years.

    CarolJoy (View Comment):
    There is also the technology in existence that could be placed inside each car or truck, so that the ability to communicate with others is blocked off once the car is going over 20 mph. But the cell industry makes so much money and no car manufacturer wants to be the first to help outlaw “death by device” car accidents, as their profit margins would drop while the other car brands took their market share.

    I’m not familiar with this technology.  Would it cut off the signal for the driver alone or for all cell phones in the car?  If it would cut it off for the passengers as well, I can see why manufacturers would not embrace it.

    • #28
  29. CarolJoy Coolidge
    CarolJoy
    @CarolJoy

    Randy Weivoda (View Comment):

    CarolJoy (View Comment):
    Also I find it rather frightening that the same aged populace that almost runs me off the road while they are on the cell or other device now claims the wisdom to understand gun laws.

    Far more people per year have been the victims of roadway accidents since the cell phone technology went into their cars.

    I take your overall point about the wisdom of the youth, and the stupidity of texting while driving, but I’m not so sure about your second sentence. The fatality rate per hundred million miles traveled is half of what it was 30 years ago. 2015 and 2016 saw an uptick, but cell phones have been around for longer than three years.

    CarolJoy (View Comment):
    There is also the technology in existence that could be placed inside each car or truck, so that the ability to communicate with others is blocked off once the car is going over 20 mph. But the cell industry makes so much money and no car manufacturer wants to be the first to help outlaw “death by device” car accidents, as their profit margins would drop while the other car brands took their market share.

    I’m not familiar with this technology. Would it cut off the signal for the driver alone or for all cell phones in the car? If it would cut it off for the passengers as well, I can see why manufacturers would not embrace it.

    We must be using different places as sources. herer is part of the info I have on my hard drive:

    In 2010, there were an estimated 5,419,000 crashes, with 30,296 of them resulting in fatalities, killing 32,999, and injuring 2,239,000. About 2,000 children under 16 die every year in traffic collisions. Records indicate that there has been a total of 3,613,732 motor vehicle fatalities in the United States from 1899 to 2013.

    In 2015, that number had gone to The National Safety Council estimates 38,300 people were killed and 4.4 million injured on U.S. roads in 2015, which saw the largest one-year percentage increase in half a century. Jason Redmond/Reuters.

    _______________________________________

    Eight thousand additional deaths in a five year period is quite a jump, but it represents that time period wherein the car phone, texting devices were ubiquitous. I myself was involved in two car accidents, one while I was a pedestrian.

    I don’t want to hijack the gun discussion, so will try to get back on board by tomorrow with an OP about the matter. (Explanation of the protocols of the technology that would block devices, etc.)

    • #29
  30. Jules PA Inactive
    Jules PA
    @JulesPA

     

     

    CarolJoy (View Comment):
    be placed inside each car or truck, so that the ability to communicate with others is blocked off once the car is going over 20 mph. .

    There is an app for iPhone that permits the owner of the phone to have the phone go do not disturb when mph goes I’ve x mph. The phone owner can override the pappy when riding, not driving.

    Why us it the responsibility if car manufacturers to create the restrictive environment? The driver is the operator, and responsible, and accountable to use the tools of car and phone properly.

    • #30
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