According to a recent article in the Arizona Republic nearly 125,000 people went through federal background checks in the first six months of 2011 in order to obtain a concealed weapon.That avuncular looking gentleman pictured above is Lynn Kartchner. Like all the other FFL gun dealers in Arizona, he may appear innocent and harmless, but the truth is he's a dealer in death, and I'll tell you why.
That puts the state on track to exceed the record of more than 215,000 background checks in 2009.
First of all let's set one thing straight. Those numbers of background checks, which the pro-gun crowd like to use as synonymous with "new gun owners," are misleading. Most of those background checks are not performed on first-time buyers. Most of those people already own one or more guns. This is an example of the mendacious spin-job the pro-gun crowd is continually trying to pull. They attempt to normalize guns by inflating the numbers of gun owners. Studies have shown that the actual number of households with guns has diminished.
Back to the original premise, "dealers in death," it works like this. In Arizona, hundreds of thousands of guns per year are being sold to folks who passed the background check, so far so good. But from there it's like a free-for-all. Since no licensing of gun owners is allowed or registration of guns to those licensed gun owners, there are absolutely no controls beyond the initial sale. Those folks who bought guns legally in Arizona, can do anything they want with them with no accountability at all.
This is how the majority of guns used by criminals get there. Straw purchases, gun traffickers with clean records, and private sales account for most. Theft accounts for the rest.
What's your opinion? Do you think Arizona is vying to take the crown back from Florida? They certainly compete in the gun part, and they've got a pretty outrageous governor, but without the prescription drug business I;m afraid Florida remains The Most Baneful State.
What do you think? Please leave a comment.
