With so much news involving shooting/ gun crimes and school shooting like Columbine High School and Virginia Tech University, it makes me wonder, is it really easy for anyone in America to get any gun legally/illegally? What about assault rifles and machine guns, can stricter gun laws help gun violence?
2007-06-17 17:42:30 · 15 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Law Enforcement & Police
It's fairly easy for someone to purchase a gun legally. A background check and a clean record and an hour later you're the owner of a new gun. Stricter laws wont help because it will infringe upon the 2nd amendment and THAT wont happen in the great US of A.
2007-06-17 17:49:07 · answer #1 · answered by Glen B 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
There are no federal laws banning any type of firearm in the USA. Machine guns, sawn off shotguns, large weapons and silencers are legal but controlled by the BATFE and require that a $200 tax be paid when transferred.
States have the most controls on other firearms, some states ban machine guns and silencers, and some cities even ban handguns.
It is very easy to buy a gun legally as long as you are 18 or older (21 for handguns) and not a convicted felon or spouse abuser. Some states have paperwork to fill out, but you can still get the gun.
Buying illegally is somewhat common unfortunately. It is frequently done by a person buying a gun at a shop or from another person then turning it over to another person who is not allowed to own guns.
Assault weapons are rarely used in violent crime compared to other guns; legally owned machine guns are hardly ever used to commit murder in the USA. Small handguns are usually used in the USA to commit violent crime.
Ranb
2007-06-20 19:43:37 · answer #2 · answered by ranb40 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Stricter gun laws is not the answer. If you look where is the most gun violence is. It is where they have the strictest gun laws. By the same token the most lenient gun laws there is the least amount of gun violence. To me if one wants to get gun violence to ease up allot is to get the best gun law and that is everyone must have one on their hips and they must know how to use it. One time a convict that got out of prison int he state of Texas was asked by a sheriff what he planned on doing after he got out of prison. He stated that he was leaving Texas because they have too many guns. Also notice that where gun violence are committed in gun free zones IE Virgina Tech and Columbine also banks. Most of criminals don't mind shooting as long there is no one to shoot back or to shoot them before they can shoot their victim.
2007-06-18 01:34:33 · answer #3 · answered by DALE M 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, it is fairly easy to buy a gun (handgun) legally if you have a clean record, citizenship, and the right age or better. The examples that you cite though have nothing to do with legal gun ownership. The shooters at Columbine stole their weapons from relatives and they were underage. So I guess one more law would have stopped them, right! At VT the shooter had a history of mental treatment and admission to a mental facility. Their is a question on the federal form 4473 about mental illness and treatment. However, there was no requirement for the the state, or any municipality, to inform the feds about the treatment. All the shooters broke the law.
2007-06-18 01:00:56 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Getting a gun is not too difficult for citizens with clean records. For the most part you will have to fill out a few forms, get a background check, and depending on the state, go through a waiting period (usually only for handguns). For real assault rifles (not semi-automatic clones) and machine guns, it is more difficult, but more costly if anything. All but 8 states allow citizens to own fully-automatic weapons, what you have to do is get state and federal permission to do so, which can take several months for things to go through. IF they do, you have to pay a $200 tax just to be able to buy one, then you'll have to pay $5,000+ for the actual weapon.
Gun control is a joke. It has proven itself worthless again, and again. Cities have banned handguns, and in those cities; handgun crime is the highest in the country. Gun free school zones are set-up, yet school shooting still occur. Gun laws only affect those who follow them, criminals, by definition, do not follow laws.
2007-06-18 02:49:10 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
You can get a gun legally fair easy, but you have to go through an instant fed. screening. Illegally it is easier, you pay your money in the black market and you got it.
The news media people and anti gunners are brainwashing the general public. The so called assault weapons are military looking rifles, BUT THEY ARE SEMI-AUTOMATIC, NOT FULLY AUTO, Fully automatic weapons have been restricted to all but few citizens since the mid 1930's.
Gun restrictions will not deter crime, because criminals do not obey the law. Why waste time and money to pass legislation that are useless?
2007-06-18 06:52:09 · answer #6 · answered by WC 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, in the state I am in, as long as you are a state resident and can pass a backround check, can buy a gun and ammuntion on the same day and walk out of the store with it. I have done so. When working with gun dealers a backround check is necessary. When buying on the private market it is not.
Stricter laws to not help. If guns are made illegal, 'law abiding citizens' will turn in their guns and criminals will not. Then they will have free reign over a society without protection.
In my opinion the only option is for you to own and carry a gun. You are your first defence.
2007-06-18 00:50:09 · answer #7 · answered by IRLostOrRu 2 · 4⤊ 0⤋
It is much harder to get a gun illegally, because then you have to steal it, keep it a secret, hide it. Anybody can sell a gun to anybody, that is perfectly legal for private individuals. It is just illegal for a commercial gun dealer to sell a gun without the background check. So this drives the business to private individuals instead of licensed gun dealers. If you have a gun, you are in good company.
2007-06-18 05:31:33 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
After a background check and filling out a form (which the kid lied on and if the doctor could have legally reported the kid's mental illness he would have never passed the background check)
Criminals by definition break the law. With 20,000 gun laws on the books, criminals ignore all of them. One more isn't going to behave.
2007-06-20 04:16:26 · answer #9 · answered by .45 Peacemaker 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
its easy, and the more stricter the gun laws get, the easier it is to pick them up illegally, and the more the criminals want them (like a reverse psychology thing)
like drugs for example, only law abiding citizens don't do them, it is easy as heck to get drugs, you can get illegal drugs everywhere and how much is dumped into enforcement each year?
same with guns, heck, they can't even keep 15 million illegals out, if they banned guns, how you think the gov will keep illegal guns out?
then all it will be is the criminals with the guns.
2007-06-18 00:55:41 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋