Second Amendment news

by Sandy Keathley
 
This week the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 partisan split, upheld the law about "straw purchases" of handguns. The case involved a man in Virginia, Bruce Abramski, a former police officer, who bought a gun for his uncle. Both men were eligible to buy a gun, but Mr Abramski qualified for a Law Enforcement (LEO) discount, bought the gun, then properly transferred it through a Federal Firearms Dealer to his uncle who lived in PA. The transaction was discovered during discovery for an unrelated legal process, and Mr Abramski was arrested and convicted of a felony.

His defense was that, since his uncle was eligible to buy a gun anyway, there was no harm, and the public was never in danger. The state basically argued that "the law is the law".

Fair enough. However, Justice Scalia, in his dissent, pointed out that the law already has loopholes you could drive a truck through, namely that Mr Abramski could have given the gun to his uncle, or sold it to him, and he would not have been in trouble. He further noted that it is not the role of the court to fix legislation that the Congress got wrong, but to rule on whether a law is Constitutional or not. Mr Abramski, conservatives, and all Americans lost this round.

Yes, the law is the law, but common sense would dictate that the proper response, in my view, would be to void the conviction, throw out the entire law, and make the Congress do it right.

Granted, I am biased on this subject. I learned to shoot on a .22 rifle my grandfather bought by mailorder from Montgomery Wards, no questions asked. In those days, the government had no more interest in who bought a gun than in who bought a screwdriver. I understand the desire to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, but not to the point of creating a police state. The overwhelming majority of criminals get their guns by stealing them, or buying them on the black-market. After all, tens of thousands of guns come into the country everyday, either across the border, or hidden in shipping containers. Cherry-picking a case like this once in a while does no good.

My suggestion? Add 10 years hard time, no "good behavior", no early release, no discounts, for every crime committed with a gun. See how fast criminals will start carrying knives (or screwdrivers).