Constitutional Law

Traced guns vs. crime guns

An interesting story in the DC Examiner:

"?Officer, I am carrying a firearm in compliance with North Carolina law.? So began my exchange during a traffic stop. (Sorry, I have a lead foot.) He replied, ?May I have it, sir?? Since this was before I knew enough to say ?no,? I complied. The officer then took my gun to his car, traced it and, finding nothing amiss, returned it to me. MAIG?s report would have you believe my gun is a ?crime gun? because it would be included in the gun trace reports on which its study is based.

Therein lies the scam: Although gun control advocates call gun tracing a measure of crime, traced guns are not necessarily ?crime guns.? Says the Congressional Research Service: ?Trace requests are not accurate indicators of specified crimes?traces may be requested for a variety of reasons not necessarily related to criminal incidents.? Indeed, BATFE encourages police to trace all guns encountered."

Full post as published by Of Arms and the Law on January 27, 2009 (boomark / email).