Gun Research Study Misses Mark
Posted by FirearmsTruth on September 4, 2009 · Leave a Comment
You have to question any study that gets the key facts wrong. KCRA reported how a new study from the University of California found that “a major source of weapons in violent crimes in Northern California” were purchased at gun shows? The report was titled, “Inside Gun Shows What Goes on When Everyone Thinks Nobody’s Watching.” This claims to include undercover video at guns show in 19 states to spot illegal gun sales.
Who was the mastermind behind the study? Was it someone versed in criminology or knew something about firearms? No, it was a “researcher and emergency medicine professor” named Dr. Garen Wintemute. Even Wintemute’s own opinion on how these transactions occur, prove that these so-called straw purchases are easily traceable:
“In one take, one man paid another to buy a gun. The legal buyer filled out forms and passed the background check. The legal buyer then picked up the gun and handed it to the straw purchaser, who carried it all the way to their car.”
Even if these events do occur, it isn’t as if the gun is suddenly “off the grid.” That gun is still traceable and the original buyer could be arrested. This is the fact that no one in the mainstream media seems to report on!
Further down in the story Wintemute makes the claim “It became very clear that guns were ending up being used in crimes in the Bay Area.” I must ask, what evidence does he have to support this statement? Anything?
More worrisome about the report is the fact that one must question again what knowledge Wintemute has about guns by this statement:
” He also believes some weapons like a sniper assault rifle should be illegal. Its giant bullets can rip through cars, which can be deadly from one mile away.”
What exactly is a sniper assault rifle? If neither the writer of this story or Wintemute knows about guns, they shouldn’t discuss guns? A sniper rifle and an assault rifle are typically two very different kinds of firearms. And more to the point, what difference does it matter how far these rifles can shoot? The guns are expensive, heavy and the ammunition is expensive. These aren’t “terrorist” or “assassination” weapons. They are used by a select few in competitive shooting.
The final problem is that this story only at the end has any sort of counter argument, but at it least it makes sense. Sam Paredes of the Gun Onwers of California notes that drugs and gangs are the real problem, and that guns are just tools of this elicit trade. How true indeed.
