Gun control
How easy, or hard is it to buy a gun?
By Todd Twilley
Staff Writer
A $129 rifle was used to kill two Athens police officers last week. A slightly more expensive Colt AR-15 semi-automatic rifle was used to wound two Florence police officers in March 1993.
So how difficult, or easy, is it to legally acquire these weapons?
For a U.S. citizen without a history of criminal activity or mental illness, it's not very difficult.
The ease in which some people can get their hands on such a powerful weapon is of great concern among the law enforcement community, and, in some cases, the general public.
At Guns-N-Such Pawn and Productions on Court Street in Florence, a customer recently completed the two-page application, owner Chip Davis made a phone call, and in less than half an hour, the customer walked out the door with a semi-automatic rifle.
Davis said news reports about the guns used in the Athens and Florence shootings are widely misrepresented as being "assault rifles."
They are not, he said.
Assault rifles are machine guns, which have not been manufactured for consumer purchase in the United States since 1986.
But the semi-automatic rifles used in these cases, and those like them, are often called assault rifles.
Assault rifles have a specific designation under federal law, Davis said.
A customer who buys from a licensed gun dealer must submit a form and answer numerous questions.
The licensed dealer then does a telephone check to officials manning a program ran jointly by the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
The transaction is either allowed to proceed, denied or can be delayed up to a week.
Most of them are allowed to proceed, authorities say.
"Criminals don't go into a gun shop and buy guns," Davis said.
Other ways to acquire a semi-automatic weapon are through an individual or on the black market. Robberies have also provided criminals with the weapons.
"While an individual is not required to submit a form, the seller is still liable," if something goes wrong, Davis said.
Davis said in 2001, the fraudulent sale of 4,000 firearms was stopped by the new system.
"Criminals, if they are good enough, can defeat any system," he said.
Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely, who charged the suspect in the killing of the Athens police officers last week, said the checks don't work for the mentally ill.
The suspect in the Athens shooting, 28-year-old Farron Barksdale, had been involuntarily committed to a mental institution on two occasions.
Blakely would not comment on how law enforcement officials believe Barksdale acquired the weapon. That is, however, part of the investigation.
But Blakely did say his guess is that 90 percent of gun buyers with a history of mental illness acquire guns by lying on the applications.
"People who have a history of mental illness and have been involuntarily committed to a mental facility, when they run that check, it doesn't show up," he said.
Blakely said more police officers are usually killed in the Southeast each year. There were 330 officers killed throughout the country in 2002, based on law enforcement data.
"One reason is our fascination with guns, and they are so easy to obtain," he said.
"One thing that concerns me is we have this type of gun that's good for nothing but killing people."
Florence police Deputy Chief Pete Williford agrees that the semi-automatic weapon's purpose is nothing more than to maim and kill people.
He said that while there is no safe gun, rifles are more dangerous for police officers.
"Most (protective) vests are rated just to handguns," he said. "To get into where you are sure a vest can stop rifle rounds you have to get into ceramics."
On the issue of the Second Amendment's right to bear arms versus safety, Williford sides with the U.S. Bill of Rights.
"When you outlaw weapons, only outlaws will have them," he said.
In a perfect world, where law enforcement could control and remove all of the guns, it would be good, Williford said.
"As you look at any other laws, the reality is the laws are only there to punish people if they break it rather than prevent," he said. "There's no way you could reasonably confiscate them all."
Todd Twilley can be reached at 740-5728 or [email protected].
http://www.timesdaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040106/NEWS/401060337/1011
this article struck me as odd, i want to know what the thoughts are on it. if this has been posted before i apologize for the redundancy.
