“Oh, we’ll pass another law and that’ll make the gangbangers not want to shoot one another. That’s nuts! Those people are gonna have guns, they’re gonna shoot one another, and this is just another one of those bills that has no real significance other than it’s a warm fuzzy.” – Illinois State Representative Jim Sacia during floor debate of Rahm Emanuel’s proposed gun control measures.

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21 COMMENTS

  1. It’s really an overused argument that you guys love so much, saying that there’s nothing we can do about it so we shouldn’t even bother trying.

    Criminals will always get guns regardless of the laws, is your honest projection of what would happen, right?

    Yet, in the UK, knives became the weapon of choice, when?, when guns became harder to get ahold of. Then in response to that, you “juke the stats” in order to argue that crime went up.

    So, which is it guys? Will they always get guns no matter what, or not?

    • US gun control laws generally never attempted to actually seize the guns (and magazines) that were already out there. The UK, Oz, and some of the other Commonwealth countries had no issues whatsoever doing that. So, yes, if you want to criminalize possession and enforce that, you MIGHT be able to make a dent in gun crime.

      But is the pay-off so great that that a reasonable person would be willing to shred the Constitution and commit political suicide to do it? The answer, of course, is hell no. Gun crime in this country has been trending down for quite a long time now, and the expiration of the AWB apparently hasn’t affected that. No, the solutions that will fix our crime problems aren’t going to be super-tight clamp-downs on guns. They’re going to be in the area of truly fixing broken families and communities.

      We do not have a gun violence problem in this country. We have a gang violence problem. It is just that, in some political districts, politicians refocus on guns because attacking the gangs is politically problematic.

      • As has been pointed out the Gangs are an intregal part of the Chicago political machine. Their function is to keep the peasants in line. Crime is the Progressive’s princple method of social control

    • Mikey, aren’t certain classes of drugs illegal? So why do we have illegal drugs?

      If we outlaw guns we create a black market for guns and you have gun trafficking to go with the drug trafficking. You know “throw in 10 Glocks and 100 boxes of ammo along with the ten keys of coke.”

      You are not anti-gun or anti-crime. You are anti-self defense and pro criminal. Better 100 honest citizens die and 1000 innocent women be raped than a single felon shot and killed in self defense.
      .

      • tdiinva – you hit it right in the head. Why DO we still have illegal drugs? Aren’t the border authorities, police and other sundry law enforcement groups of the most powerful nation in the world enough to prevent the inflow of illegal drugs in this country?
        I assume that cocaine and crack cocaine (and probably most of the meth and marijuana) are made outside our borders, and yet – I would have no trouble going outside and find a 20buck bag of any of the above items in a street corner five minutes away.
        So what will it be Mikeb? Should we ban guns and be magically rid of the problem? Just like we made it illegal to even posses drugs? Are you suggesting that banning guns will somehow be more effective than banning drugs? Do you expect us to believe that a ban on weapons will only adversely affect the guilty and not the innocent?
        Darn – forgot about the warning re: feeding the trolls again. Sorry…. mea culpa.
        It must be the heroin/crack speedballs kicking in…
        As you were, gentlemen

        • *banning certain classes of drugs* not just “banning drugs” – darn speedballs got my eyes and fingers all loopy again.

        • Sort of my take as well. The War on Drugs was lost back when I was in High School during Nixon. Gun Control has worked really swell in Mexico thanks to Uncle Sam.
          Mikey lives on Fantasy Island.

    • Hi, Bonomo: Who is “you guys”? With opinions diverse here, you are still back to stereotyping the entire group of readers and comment writers? Did you canvas your self-described group of felonious friends from your prior life in LA, Las Vegas, and Miami about the issue? Do they prefer knives or guns these days? Do you know what happened to the illegally transferred shotgun yet? Does it make you cringe in shame that you don’t?

    • “in the UK, knives became the weapon of choice”

      Knives have been the weapon in the UK for a long time. Guns are easily smuggled into GB and if you have the cash you can get one. Many young hoods can’t afford the good quality gun imports and so they use knives which are silent and a relatively easier weapon for a younger/stronger/more agile person to use.

      Crime is now more out of control than ever, and now the weaker person seldom has a gun to defend themself. BTW, even those ion England who own a shotgun cannot legally use it in defense thanks to people just like YOU Mikey.

    • Still bitter that you can’t buy a gun, Mike? Semper Fi! What? No Semper Fi, Mike? Suppose, as a compromise position you allow us to comment on your blog without being deleted? What say you, Michael Bonomo?

    • Lots of legislators in Illinois have more common sense than the State lets them assert. Unfortunately, the ruling elite in Chicago seem to rule the entire state. Those that have been there know that Illinois is very rural and a great place to be… outside of Chicago.

      • Let’s not get carried away. I spent a lot of time living in Champaign-Urbana and the while enjoyed my time there I wouldn’t recommend it as a place to be unless you like corn and soybeans. My mother’s farm on the Canadian prarie has more color than Illinois.

  3. So Britain has over 4.3 times the violent crime rate per 100,000 people as the USA according to the Daily Mail newspaper article linked earlier. I’m a bit astonished, also astonished that most of Europe has a much higher violent crime rate than the US. Although no figures were given for Italy, apparently Mike isn’t as safe as he thinks he is living over there.

    • Though my experience is mainly in Spain, the UK, and especially Sweden, it seems quite popular in Western Europe to let people beat up other people without permitting any effective self-defense. 50% of the home burglaries are now of occupied dwellings! I’m not sure how this preference evolved. I’ve long suspected that it’s a case of keeping the masses huddled in fear. The people who pass the laws live in safe areas, often estates or gentleman farms. Perhaps it’s just a way to save money in the National Health systems. Repairing gun shot wounds in criminals is undeniably expensive.

        • I’m a US person, but I married a Swede when I was 28, one who happened to be studying in DC when I was a law student, and we’re still married. I spent many summer vacations there, perhaps 15, and much more time in certain years, as well as many jul tider. We were married in Värmdö kyrka, where my son was baptized six years later. I’m still involved there but less. I speak with people there weekly or so. Varför frågor du om det? Är du svensk själv?

  4. Interesting how Mikey has nothing else to say about this. Can you say “shooting his argument full of holes”? I knew you could.

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