Guns seized by the law or turned in

[Glenn E. Meyer]

This is an interesting piece: http://www.washingtonpost.com/invest...y.html?hpid=z2

The Post is of course antigun but makes the point that current gun control proposals would only affect the margins of illegal gun use. One interesting quote for those trumpeting the AWB as a solution.

But since 2000, police in the District and Prince George’s have seized a relatively small number of guns — roughly 1,100, or about 2 percent of the total recovered — that could be defined as “assault weapons” under the recent congressional proposal to renew a ban on a range of military-style guns such as AK-47 rifles and TEC-9s.

Interesting read. Types of guns, traffic, etc.

[Tom Servo]

The interesting thing is the game they play with semantics and numbers.

The vast majority of guns that police recover are classified as “crime guns,” meaning the weapons were possessed illegally or possibly used in crimes.

When a trace is requested on a gun, for any reason, the BATFE classifies it as a "crime gun." There is no other classification in the tracing system.

So, a gun Grandma finds in the attic and turns in is a crime gun. Guns turned in at a buyback are crime guns. The designation doesn't mean they were actually used in a crime.

Illegal possession accounts for about one-third of all confiscations, analysis shows. Buy-back programs have led people to turn in more than 1,500 weapons over the years, ranging from broken handguns to valuable war relics.

In a jurisdiction like Prince George, almost any possession is illegal. I'd be willing to bet that most of those guns were confiscated for statutory violations absent any other crime.

[Evan Thomas]

Interesting article. The point about the number of "assault weapons" recovered is an interesting one, but it can be used either way. We may want to focus on the tiny percentage of the total, but I can hear an anti somewhere saying, "Why... that's... about a hundred a year, in just one place!"

But I didn't know that there was a 9 mm pistol called a Black Talon Luger. Learn something new every day, I do.

And is it just me, or is the cop in the first photo pointing the revolver at his....

[Tom Servo]

"Why... that's... about a hundred a year, in just one place!"

Yes, but one of the critical differentiating factors is how many were used in actual crimes, as opposed to being statutory violations.

WE know that a WASR/10 confiscated after a drive-by is something totally different than a 10/22 yanked from a guy who brought it in from Virginia for a weekend shoot with his friends. The folks handling this stuff don't make that distinction.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Yeah - I wonder if the small number of assault weapon crimes is brought up as a justification for the AWB not being enough. A general ban on all is needed.

[Evan Thomas]

That was my first thought. But the WaPo staff has to know that's not going to happen, at least on a national level.

Of course, I guess it could be construed as supporting the status quo in D.C., as far as handguns outside the home.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

But it sells papers. The New Republic has doomed the NRA as Bloomberg will take down the progun candidates.

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/1...nt-has-arrived

Real gun control is at hand. Just as a side point - I previously said that the antis didn't see Heller, etc. as an impediment. Scalia left a gaping hole. But some worshipped him. Oh, well.

[Tom Servo]

The New Republic has doomed the NRA as Bloomberg will take down the progun candidates.

Alec Macgillis has been doing the talk show rounds with that article, and even other supporters of gun control aren't buying it. Joe Scarborough quipped that it was "editorial oversell" and that Macgillis just made it the cover story "so liberals could pick up this magazine and hug it."

The reality is that Bloomberg outspent the NRA almost 5-1 during the Great Shaming Game of 2013, and he still lost. The administration and gun-control politicians (seemingly) had the wind at their back, and they still lost. The word of the year is hubris.

Heck, our best strategy right now is to let them keep thinking they're on top and let them overreach.

[Gary L. Griffiths]

military-style guns such as AK-47 rifles and TEC-9s.

Just when was the TEC-9 a military-issue gun?

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Style - it's military style. It has the configuration of ones like the M-3. It's appearance that counts.

[KyJim]

It's appearance that counts.

That's why those gun shaped sandwiches are so dangerous.

[Fishing_Cabin]

O.K. so its looks, a.k.a. profiling, if it looks bad then it is bad? Well, if so why cant we do this in other areas? Oh yeah, its illegal to profile, so there its we have to prove intent, instead of looks. Yeah, I got that, I think.....................................