On Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:14:32 -0400, the infamous "Ed Huntress"
scrawled the following:


wrote in message
news
On Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:29:23 -0500, Don Foreman
wrote:

On Sun, 26 Jul 2009 12:19:34 -0700, wrote:

On Sun, 26 Jul 2009 12:09:51 -0500, Don Foreman
wrote:


The thread started as my impressions of a
particular pistol.


Again, it's a sure sign that you're losing the debate when you need to
put words in others' mouths and misrepresent their position. All I
said about schoolyards is that your gun is more likely to end up in
one than to save your life.

Yes, that's what you said

But what you wrote about what I said about schoolyards, and what I
actually said, are two entirely different things. That's a fact, and
anyone who can read English can verify it by reading the material.

-- with absolutely no basis of evidence or
supportive logic. The assertion is absurd.

What you continually fail to acknowledge is that *everyone* like you
who buys a carry-piece because they feel vulnerable, insists that they
too are responsible. The level of genuine responsibility varies, but
the fact is that a whole lot of those guns end up far from where they
were originally intended to be.

I don't think that's true. Most guns used in crimes come from straw
purchases, not from thefts or other transfer of once-legal guns.

Where did you find that data point, Ed?


Although there is no reliable data on the number of guns lost or stolen,
there is fairly good data on sources of guns used in crimes. This doesn't
directly show the percentage that were stolen but there is anecdotal info
from BATF that suggests the same thing -- that most guns used in crimes
found their way fairly directly from retail sale to crime, without any theft
or loss involved:

http://ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/fuo.pdf

From page 1 of that:
"In 1997 among State inmates possessing a gun, fewer than 2% bought
their firearm at a flea market or gun show, about 12% from a retail
store or pawnshop, and 80% from family, friends, a street buy, or an
illegal source." Page 15 details it.

What part of that doc makes you state the "fairly directly from retail
sale to crime"? ~80% is indirect from my reading of the article.
What's your definition of "straw purchases"? I don't follow.

(wmbjk is in my filters, btw.)

--
Mistrust the man who finds everything good, the man who finds everything
evil, and still more the man who is indifferent to everything.
-- Johann K. Lavater