[quote]…[Anti-gun a]dvocates argue that gun manufacturers and distributors are aware of these illegal practices and could stop them, if they chose to, by refusing to supply guns to the problematic dealers. This theory has been embraced by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and even some scholars. They argue that disrupting trafficking operations can have a substantial impact on rates of criminal gun possession and gun violence. Unfortunately, there is little evidence to support this set of interconnected claims… Because the "newness" of crime guns and out-of-state origins are regarded as indicators that the guns were trafficked, trace data provide a misleading picture of the sources of guns used in crimes, exaggerating the share that appears to have been trafficked. As Kevin Wang and I concluded, trafficking levels have no measurable effect on the incidence of gun possession by criminals or the rate of violent crime. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that strategies aimed at reducing gun trafficking are unlikely to have any measurable effect on gun violence in the U.S. or Mexico. Criminals have plenty of other ways to get guns.[quote]
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704904604576333443343499926.html?mod=djemLifeStyle_h ***************************************************************************************** Professor Joseph Olson, J.D., LL.M. o- 651-523-2142 Hamline University School of Law (MS-D2037) f- 651-523-2236 St. Paul, MN 55113-1235 c- 612-865-7956 [email protected] http://law.hamline.edu/constitutional_law/joseph_olson.html
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