JSA wrote:
j p o wrote:
I'm in favor of a coherent system of gun control. But to do it, we are going to need a rewrite of the second amendment. Good luck with that.
I disagree. There are numerous gun control laws that are not enforced and violations that are not prosecuted. Every time this topic comes up, I post a link to Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn's testimony before Congress when he was asked why he did not pursue the thousands of background check violations and he responded, "We're not in a paper chase."
What??? That's disgusting. That's irresponsible. That should be grounds for prosecution for misconduct in public office.
Give me a break. Enforce the laws on the books. That would be the logical start.
GRAHAM: When almost 80,000 people fail a background check and 44 people are prosecuted, what kind of deterrent is that? I mean, the law obviously is not seeing that as important…. We absolutely do nothing to enforce the laws on the books…
FLYNN: Just for the record, from my point of view, the point of a background check…
GRAHAM: How many cases have you made? How many cases have you made?
FLYNN: It doesn’t matter, it’s a paper thing. I want to stop 76,000 people from getting guns illegally. That’s what a background check does. If you think we’re going to do paperwork prosecutions, you’re wrong. […] We don’t make those cases. We have priorities. We make gun cases. We make 2,000 gun cases a year, senator, that’s our priority. We’re not in a paper chase. We’re trying to prevent the wrong people from buying guns. That’s why we do background checks. If you think I’m going to do a paper chase, then you think I’m going to misuse my resources.
I actually agree with this Police Chief--it's a matter of priorities. With a criminal justice system that is already back logged and prisons that are already beyond capacity, it has not been a priority to go after those that have lied on their background checks. To me (and apparently those in law enforcement across the country) there is a huge difference between a felon who is actually in possession of a firearm, and one who lies on a background check. As Flynn stated, they make gun cases--lots of them. You hear it in the news all the time when felons are caught with firearms they get charged with unlawful possession and they do prison time. And there are firearm enhancements to sentences that get applied regularly.
So I don't think that we can just end the discussion on gun control by cherry-picking this one example and saying "But, but, we're not enforcing the laws on the books!"