----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Woolley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Clayton E. Cramer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, March 12, 2004 1:18 AM Subject: Re: [inbox] School research project on firearms regulation
> On 3/11/04 11:59 PM, "Clayton E. Cramer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > buyers is, "Why pass another law? Why not just show up at the door of these > > people that are buying all these handguns, and ask them where > > > > the guns are? If they don't have the guns, and they can't provide evidence of > > a legal sale, it should be easy to get a conviction for selling > > > > the guns illegally." > > On what grounds would the purchaser be obliged to produce evidence that he > either still has the guns or sold them? Suppose he just slams the door in > the face of the questioner. Or says he still has them but refuses to prove > it. Or says he tried them all once, didn't like any of them, so he gave them > away to his friends. That's an illegal transfer under California law, if it wasn't done through a licensed dealer or police department. (Some of the rural counties had so few dealers that law enforcement got roped into this.). > How do you get a conviction out of that? > > Even if you get probable cause to search his house, and the guns aren't > there, if the guy doesn't confess, you don't know if he keeps them > elsewhere, gave them away, sold them legally, sold them illegally, melted > them down, etc. Does anyone doubt that you could get a conviction for unlawful transfer if someone had bought a dozen handguns in a year, and couldn't either produce them, or evidence of lawful sale? Beyond a reasonable doubt might allow you to explain away one or two handguns that you "misplaced" but not the number that indicate trafficking. Clayton E. Cramer [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ To post, send message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/firearmsregprof
