I thought this was pretty interesting, and it may show a turning of the tide in medial reporting on guns? This is NOT an anti-gun, or anti-gun owner editorial piece. While it shows up on the front page of the Editorial/Forum section of the paper, it really is a decent portrayal of gun shops, gun owners, and guns and looks at the laws that need to be enforced by the ATF, etc.
Sticking to their guns / nwi.com
Sticking to their guns / nwi.com
Sticking to their guns
By Dan Hinkel
dan.hinkel@nwi.com, (219) 852-4317 | Sunday, June 14, 2009 |
Upon Barack Obama's election as president, news media frenzied themselves over reports that people were loading up on guns in anticipation of long Democratic majorities passing tough new gun laws.
Forgotten in that discussion was the stack of current national gun laws, which are reinforced by epic jail sentences available against repeat offenders.
Earl Westforth's gun shop, Westforth Sport Shop in Gary, turns up regularly in criminal complaints filed against accused gun offenders in Hammond federal court. You might expect Westworth to bristle under the scrutiny of federal agents and local cops who watch his store for "straw" buyers, people who buy guns for convicted felons or other "prohibited persons." Instead, Westforth applauds the agents who arrest a percentage of his customers.
"They're doing a fantastic job," Westforth said.
"I got children too, and I don't want nothin' to happen."
That cooperation from gun shop owners is crucial, said Kim Riddell, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Guns that end up in illegal markets start with legitimate dealers, Ridell said.
"The firearms licensees are the ones there on the ground and very much the first line of defense against straw arms purchasing," she said.
Acting U.S. Attorney David Capp is the key figure in federal gun enforcement in Northern Indiana, and he has often singled out gun prosecutions as a priority. He thinks his assistant prosecutors do "exceptional" work against gun offenders. He said his office deserves credit for running preventative anti-gun crime events in schools and holding enforcement workshops with local agencies.
And when preventative measures fail, there are books to be thrown. Capp sees value in federal sentence enhancements for repeat offenders. Capp noted that his office runs prosecutions against serial offenders carrying as many as seven or eight felony convictions.
"I am a firm believer that 90 percent of the crime is committed by 10 percent of the criminals," Capp said.
"Some of these repeat offenders we can start taking off the street for 20, 25 years," he said.
Or 40 years. Bernard Ellis, 42, of Country Club Hills was sentenced in February to four decades in prison for his convictions of being a felon in possession of a firearm and aiding and abetting the straw buys of assault rifles and 9 mm pistols at a gun shop in Osceola, Ind. South Bend federal Judge Robert L. Miller upped Ellis' sentence using a federal law governing penalties for "armed career criminals."
"These are effective prosecutions," Capp said.
A handful of Indiana and Illinois gun shop owners and gun rights advocates don't disagree.
"In general, I would say that the federal government does as well as any large organization can in enforcing the over 1,000 gun laws on the books," said Caleb Giddings, an Indianapolis freelance outdoor journalist who writes a popular blog at Gun Nuts Media.
Richard Pearson, of the Illinois Rifle Association, wants stiffer penalties for "gangbangers" and gun runners. He said police spend too much time going after sportsmen who don't zip their gun cases all the way.
'"We need to enforce the penalties that we have," he said.
"When you get a charge against a person, put them in jail and keep there."
Pearson and Giddings don't sound particularly inflamed with the current state of federal gun enforcement, but laws could change during the Obama administration.
"I think that I would be foolish to not be concerned," Giddings said.
No matter what the gun laws, the ATF, local police agencies and federal prosecutors will be charged with enforcement.
"We are addressing violent crime and trying to make our communities safer," Riddell said.
"And in doing that, we are enforcing the laws and the regulations that are on the books now."
By Dan Hinkel
dan.hinkel@nwi.com, (219) 852-4317 | Sunday, June 14, 2009 |
Upon Barack Obama's election as president, news media frenzied themselves over reports that people were loading up on guns in anticipation of long Democratic majorities passing tough new gun laws.
Forgotten in that discussion was the stack of current national gun laws, which are reinforced by epic jail sentences available against repeat offenders.
Earl Westforth's gun shop, Westforth Sport Shop in Gary, turns up regularly in criminal complaints filed against accused gun offenders in Hammond federal court. You might expect Westworth to bristle under the scrutiny of federal agents and local cops who watch his store for "straw" buyers, people who buy guns for convicted felons or other "prohibited persons." Instead, Westforth applauds the agents who arrest a percentage of his customers.
"They're doing a fantastic job," Westforth said.
"I got children too, and I don't want nothin' to happen."
That cooperation from gun shop owners is crucial, said Kim Riddell, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Guns that end up in illegal markets start with legitimate dealers, Ridell said.
"The firearms licensees are the ones there on the ground and very much the first line of defense against straw arms purchasing," she said.
Acting U.S. Attorney David Capp is the key figure in federal gun enforcement in Northern Indiana, and he has often singled out gun prosecutions as a priority. He thinks his assistant prosecutors do "exceptional" work against gun offenders. He said his office deserves credit for running preventative anti-gun crime events in schools and holding enforcement workshops with local agencies.
And when preventative measures fail, there are books to be thrown. Capp sees value in federal sentence enhancements for repeat offenders. Capp noted that his office runs prosecutions against serial offenders carrying as many as seven or eight felony convictions.
"I am a firm believer that 90 percent of the crime is committed by 10 percent of the criminals," Capp said.
"Some of these repeat offenders we can start taking off the street for 20, 25 years," he said.
Or 40 years. Bernard Ellis, 42, of Country Club Hills was sentenced in February to four decades in prison for his convictions of being a felon in possession of a firearm and aiding and abetting the straw buys of assault rifles and 9 mm pistols at a gun shop in Osceola, Ind. South Bend federal Judge Robert L. Miller upped Ellis' sentence using a federal law governing penalties for "armed career criminals."
"These are effective prosecutions," Capp said.
A handful of Indiana and Illinois gun shop owners and gun rights advocates don't disagree.
"In general, I would say that the federal government does as well as any large organization can in enforcing the over 1,000 gun laws on the books," said Caleb Giddings, an Indianapolis freelance outdoor journalist who writes a popular blog at Gun Nuts Media.
Richard Pearson, of the Illinois Rifle Association, wants stiffer penalties for "gangbangers" and gun runners. He said police spend too much time going after sportsmen who don't zip their gun cases all the way.
'"We need to enforce the penalties that we have," he said.
"When you get a charge against a person, put them in jail and keep there."
Pearson and Giddings don't sound particularly inflamed with the current state of federal gun enforcement, but laws could change during the Obama administration.
"I think that I would be foolish to not be concerned," Giddings said.
No matter what the gun laws, the ATF, local police agencies and federal prosecutors will be charged with enforcement.
"We are addressing violent crime and trying to make our communities safer," Riddell said.
"And in doing that, we are enforcing the laws and the regulations that are on the books now."
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ay too much sense. Are you sure it was actually printed and sold on the streets?
