Langenator
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With my comments interjected.
How Do Guns End Up In Criminals' Hands?
Pittsburgh Gets High-Tech To Trace Weapons
Karen Welles, Target 11 Investigator
POSTED: 5:08 PM EST February 12, 2004
PITTSBURGH -- The local fight against gun crime just got a boost worth almost $1 million. The government grant was announced Thursday by U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan at a kickoff of Project Safe Neighborhoods.
The money will be used by police agencies as well as community groups to try to reduce gun violence. A big chunk of the money will go to the firearms section of the Allegheny County crime lab. That's where guns used in crimes are analyzed.
Last year in Pittsburgh alone, police made 467 gun arrests. It shows that even with instant background checks, criminals are still getting their hands on guns. How do they get them? Pittsburgh is one of only a handful of cities using new high technology to trace crime guns.
Guns used in local crimes end up being crushed into scrap metal. Hundreds of crime guns are seized every year in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. But let's back up to see where they're being confiscated and the high-tech ways local and federal law enforcement are using to trace the weapons that are taken into evidence.
Andy Marculaitis said, "We don't see as many of the cheap, what they used to call Saturday night specials."
.That's because they've been effective legislated out of existence, genius. Now the criminals are armed with better guns thanks to your wonderful laws.
Instead, the gun of choice locally is the 9-milimeter semi-automatic gun. Pittsburgh police keep track of which guns are seized and where the gun crimes are committed.
It's been nearly 10 years since Javon Thompson fell victim to gun violence.
Adrienne Young, the victim's mother, said, "We are still wondering where are all these guns that are inundating our community coming from?"
Pittsburgh police are trying to find out. The city is one of only nine in the country to use e-trace, a pilot program of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobbacco and Firearms.
"This is a database for every gun that has ever been seized in a crime." database processor Conrad Foltyn said.
Assistant police Chief Richard Mullen said, "If someone purchases nine guns on nine different times and doesn't file a burglary report, and when we go to find what happened to those guns and he doesn't know, well that sort of gives us an indication that the individuals (are) purchasing those guns to be used and sold to other individuals for probably criminal activity."
So, if I bought a bunch of guns years ago, then lost my job and sold them because I needed the money, and they show up in crimes, I'm a criminal.
Police said they're seeing a trend of drug users renting out guns in exchange for drugs. Those who buy guns to rent or sell to convicted felons are called straw purchasers. According to the ATF, they account for 75 percent of the guns that get into the hands of criminals.
Locally, Buchanan is cracking down.
"If a firearms dealer knows that the person that they are selling the gun to is not the true intended recipient, then the gun dealer can also be held criminally responsible," she said.
Earth to Officer Buchanan: the whole point of a straw buyer is that they have a clean record and don't show up on a background check. And they LIE when they fill out the 4473. how is the gun dealer supposed to know they are lying? Hire Miss Cleo as a consultant?
Marculaitis said, "We have seen evidence where guns are being purchased so many a month, at fairly regular intervals, through the same dealers."
B]So, everyone who has bought a bunch of guns from the same dealer is now a suspected illegal gunrunner. I'd guess that includes the majority of the people on this board.[/B]
Local police turn over their information to the ATF.
Brandt Schenken, of the ATF, said, "You have the gun dealer for allowing it to occur and causing false records to be kept in his books. You have the straw purchaser who is buying the gun and concealing the true identity of the actual purchaser. And you have the prohibitive person who was involved in the conspiracy."
Buchanan said in the near future we will see gun dealers prosecuted for selling guns to straw purchasers. But they're also asking the community to help report gun crimes by calling local police or the ATF at (800) ATF-GUNS [
How Do Guns End Up In Criminals' Hands?
Pittsburgh Gets High-Tech To Trace Weapons
Karen Welles, Target 11 Investigator
POSTED: 5:08 PM EST February 12, 2004
PITTSBURGH -- The local fight against gun crime just got a boost worth almost $1 million. The government grant was announced Thursday by U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan at a kickoff of Project Safe Neighborhoods.
The money will be used by police agencies as well as community groups to try to reduce gun violence. A big chunk of the money will go to the firearms section of the Allegheny County crime lab. That's where guns used in crimes are analyzed.
Last year in Pittsburgh alone, police made 467 gun arrests. It shows that even with instant background checks, criminals are still getting their hands on guns. How do they get them? Pittsburgh is one of only a handful of cities using new high technology to trace crime guns.
Guns used in local crimes end up being crushed into scrap metal. Hundreds of crime guns are seized every year in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. But let's back up to see where they're being confiscated and the high-tech ways local and federal law enforcement are using to trace the weapons that are taken into evidence.
Andy Marculaitis said, "We don't see as many of the cheap, what they used to call Saturday night specials."
.That's because they've been effective legislated out of existence, genius. Now the criminals are armed with better guns thanks to your wonderful laws.
Instead, the gun of choice locally is the 9-milimeter semi-automatic gun. Pittsburgh police keep track of which guns are seized and where the gun crimes are committed.
It's been nearly 10 years since Javon Thompson fell victim to gun violence.
Adrienne Young, the victim's mother, said, "We are still wondering where are all these guns that are inundating our community coming from?"
Pittsburgh police are trying to find out. The city is one of only nine in the country to use e-trace, a pilot program of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobbacco and Firearms.
"This is a database for every gun that has ever been seized in a crime." database processor Conrad Foltyn said.
Assistant police Chief Richard Mullen said, "If someone purchases nine guns on nine different times and doesn't file a burglary report, and when we go to find what happened to those guns and he doesn't know, well that sort of gives us an indication that the individuals (are) purchasing those guns to be used and sold to other individuals for probably criminal activity."
So, if I bought a bunch of guns years ago, then lost my job and sold them because I needed the money, and they show up in crimes, I'm a criminal.
Police said they're seeing a trend of drug users renting out guns in exchange for drugs. Those who buy guns to rent or sell to convicted felons are called straw purchasers. According to the ATF, they account for 75 percent of the guns that get into the hands of criminals.
Locally, Buchanan is cracking down.
"If a firearms dealer knows that the person that they are selling the gun to is not the true intended recipient, then the gun dealer can also be held criminally responsible," she said.
Earth to Officer Buchanan: the whole point of a straw buyer is that they have a clean record and don't show up on a background check. And they LIE when they fill out the 4473. how is the gun dealer supposed to know they are lying? Hire Miss Cleo as a consultant?
Marculaitis said, "We have seen evidence where guns are being purchased so many a month, at fairly regular intervals, through the same dealers."
B]So, everyone who has bought a bunch of guns from the same dealer is now a suspected illegal gunrunner. I'd guess that includes the majority of the people on this board.[/B]
Local police turn over their information to the ATF.
Brandt Schenken, of the ATF, said, "You have the gun dealer for allowing it to occur and causing false records to be kept in his books. You have the straw purchaser who is buying the gun and concealing the true identity of the actual purchaser. And you have the prohibitive person who was involved in the conspiracy."
Buchanan said in the near future we will see gun dealers prosecuted for selling guns to straw purchasers. But they're also asking the community to help report gun crimes by calling local police or the ATF at (800) ATF-GUNS [
