The Sun at it again

Norton · Sep 24, 2007

Look for more of this rhetoric from the The Sun as we get closer to the General Assembly.

Anyone want to bet that O'Mouthy makes an announcement sometime today about his new anti gun violence policies?

The weapon of choice

September 24, 2007

ANortheast Baltimore man shoots and kills his girlfriend, drives their two children to a relative's house, and then returns to their home and kills himself. Two young men trade gunfire on a street in Northeast Baltimore and a high school student gets caught in the cross-fire and dies. A murder witness is killed in a drive-by shooting, and the suspected hit man is a 15-year-old Baltimore boy.

A gun too easily had played a role in each of these murders.

Mayor Sheila Dixon has tried to focus attention on the proliferation of illegal guns in Baltimore. It's why she met recently with New York's mayor, who sued out-of-state dealers over illegal sales. But Baltimore's problem is not New York's. Most illegal guns here are local buys.

And in murder cases, the gun is increasingly the weapon of choice. Since 2002, gun-related homicides in Baltimore have steadily increased, from 72 percent of all murders then, to 77 percent in 2003, to 82 percent in 2006, according to administration statistics. The increase suggests that guns are plentiful and available despite the recovery by the police of 2,551 guns this year, an increase of 14 percent over last year.

Cracking down on rogue dealers and people who buy guns for ex-felons must be a central thrust of any anti-gun strategy. But when gun felons reoffend or violate their probation by possessing a gun, prison isn't always where they end up. In fact, 50 percent of murder suspects in Baltimore have been convicted of gun crimes in the past and are cycling through the system. Judges can't waver on taking a hard line on gun crimes; the violence in this city is too pervasive not to.

Unlike in New York, more than 85 percent of guns used in crimes in Baltimore are from Maryland. And while that statistic should put the focus directly on dealers who aren't obeying the law, it also suggests a robust underground market that keeps illegal guns circulating. When police arrested a convicted sex offender in July, they found 38 guns in his home, only 12 of them registered to him. How did he get the other guns? And who needs 12 guns to begin with?

Criminals with guns don't deserve a second chance to use a gun again. City and federal prosecutors are trying to keep gun felons off the street by having more gun cases handled in federal court, where sentences are stiffer - and imposed. But the majority of gun crimes remain the purview of state courts. The unequivocal message in Baltimore has to be: Gun crimes mean jail time.

Norton · Sep 24, 2007

You can submit comments at the bottom of this page:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bal-ed.murder24sep24,0,3132315.story

Or if you want to get a letter published you can write the Sun as follows:

Letters to the Editor
The Sun, P.O. Box 1377
Baltimore, MD 21278-0001

E-mail us
letters@baltsun.com

Norton · Sep 24, 2007

Make no mistake about it, if gun owners in this state don't do better than we did last year at getting mobilized, writing letters, making phone calls and getting to Annapolis we are done.

O'Malley is going to hurt us badly and we need to fight back, starting now before the Sun turns public sentiment too far against us.

K31 · Sep 24, 2007

2002-2006? That was on O'Malley's watch in Balmer. That can't be right. Crime went down while he was there, he said so, and the po-lice backed him up in that during his run for Governor. The Sun must just have this wrong.

zoostation · Sep 24, 2007

Comment left. And note to everybody that you do not need to register to leave comments on stories there.

K31 · Sep 24, 2007

Martin O'Malley: A Record of Achievement

...

His emphasis on public safety, and the hard work of police and Baltimore neighborhood citizens, has brought about nearly a 40% reduction in violent crime, which leads the nation.

http://www.gov.state.md.us/biography.asp

See there, if murder's not a violent crime what is? The Sun just has their facts mixed up. And O'Malley's biography has to be true, after all, it's on the Internet. I think I'll go for a stroll through Balmer tonight. It leads the nation in the reduction of violent crime so therefore it's gotta be safer than say Mt. Airy NC, aka Mayberry.

Decoy · Sep 24, 2007

From the Suns comment section.

Way to go SUN, You have sunk to a new low. Why are we letting criminals dictate the rights of law abiding citizens? 1 person in a 1000 breaks the law and you wish to punish the other 999. If you follow that logic 11,000 people died in swimming pools last year so why isn’t the SUN calling for a Ban on swimming pools? I mean "who needs a swimming pool anyway."

novus collectus · Sep 24, 2007

"Ex-felons"? Did they get pardoned by the governor or something to make them "ex"?

When police arrested a convicted sex offender in July, they found 38 guns in his home, only 12 of them registered to him. How did he get the other guns?

See, this is why I hate it when people call recordation of sale "registration" because it leads to confusion, or statements like this by the antis that makes it sound more severe.
Of the 38, eight were long guns where there is no state recordation of sale. Of the collection we do not know how many were unregulated by the feds antiques and since he was a collector in his 60s, it is quite possible he bought the guns before recordation of handgun sales was even started yet.

Most illegal guns here are local buys....

....Unlike in New York, more than 85 percent of guns used in crimes in Baltimore are from Maryland.

I seriously doubt this is true. In all of Maryland there were 7,000 gun traces only 2,351 were traced to MD.

And while that statistic should put the focus directly on dealers who aren't obeying the law, it also suggests a robust underground market that keeps illegal guns circulating.

Another very misleading statement. Most guns (three times as many) in MD that could be successfully traced and were used in a crime were purchased more than three years prior with the average time from purchase from a dealer until used in a crime at 11 years!!!
If the dealer whch sold them broke the law, they are possibly dead of old age now and out of business. :rolleyes:

Someone else post this info in the comments section of the article. I am not as articulate as I would like when writing letters to the editor and such.

Here is where I got the stats by the way. http://www.atf.gov/firearms/trace_data/states_and_territories/cy2006-maryland.pdf

Deacon51 · Sep 24, 2007

I thought it was a great article, even given the ignorants of the writer. It's up to us, as gun owner, to explain why a person may want to have many firearms. Collecting, sport, investments...

Other than that, it read like they where calling for the enforcement of current laws on the books that would keep guns out of the wrong hands...

I support that 110%

trapture · Sep 24, 2007

Just wrote a large letter to them. Wonder if I'll every hear back about it.

nighthawk2099 · Sep 24, 2007

And who needs 12 guns to begin with?

I DO ! :mad54:

Well, I already have 12 guns, but I WANT MORE !! :gun1:

lionfour · Sep 24, 2007

They ran a political cartoon today--a drawing of an AK
with the caption critical of politicians caving in to the NRA
and not outlawing assault weapons because of their use against
law enforcement officers. No critical comments about the criminals
themselves of course. Thats just like saying I should not be able to buy a beer because some other a$$hole drinks 12 of them and kills someone
while driving. I'd better hurry up and buy one before its too late.
Hear me Santa?--I'm on the good list this year!

lionfour · Sep 24, 2007

They ran a political cartoon today--a drawing of an AK
with the caption critical of politicians caving in to the NRA
and not outlawing assault weapons because of their use against
law enforcement officers. No critical comments about the criminals
themselves of course. Thats just like saying I should not be able to buy a beer because some other a$$hole drinks 12 of them and kills someone
while driving. I'd better hurry up and buy one before its too late.
Hear me Santa?--I'm on the good list this year!

My response:
"And who needs 12 guns to begin with?"
People legally collect stamps, sea shells, coins,
one wrestler collects school lunch boxes..and yes
people collect guns.
The real question is who needs a subscription
to your bleeding heart newspaper.

K31 · Sep 24, 2007

Why would anyone need sooo many golf clubs?

zoostation · Sep 24, 2007

lionfour said:
Thats just like saying I should not be able to buy a beer because some other a$$hole drinks 12 of them and kills someone
while driving.

Come on now, you know it's not fair to keep bringing up Ted Kennedy

novus collectus · Sep 24, 2007

zoostation said:
Come on now, you know it's not fair to keep bringing up Ted Kennedy

The Sun at it again

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