Last week Counterpunch ran a piece entitled
Chuck’s Gun Shop Throws a Tantrum in which the author pins the blame of crime in Chicago on Chuck's Gun Shop.
2,370 crime guns were traced to just one gun shop located in suburban Chicago between 1996 and 2000. Over 1,300 have been traced to the shop since 2008–as well as 20 percent of all Chicago crime guns used within a year of their purchase. Yet Chuck’s Gun Shop, in Riverdale, far from being shut down as a virtual ATM for crime guns, has actually brought suit against Cook County calling a $25 gun tax that went into effect April 1 unfair.
That's an interesting comment.
One could ask the following question:
Did the owner of Chuck's know that the guns he was selling were being sold to either persons who he knew intended to commit a crime
or to persons who he knew were purchasing the guns with the intent of selling them to other people.
If either of the answers to these questions are "yes" then Chuck could and should be prosecuted for gun running and knowingly facilitating straw purchases.
Given that neither the state or the federal governments have gone after Chuck's on such charges, we need to ask another set of questions:
If we
know that the guns that were used in the commission of a crime were purchased at Chuck's then why do we not know
who those guns were sold to?
Under Illinois law one must have a Firearm Owner's Identification (FOID) card, in order to purchase a weapon. There is also a 24-72 hour waiting period between purchase. From Wikipedia:
When a firearm is sold or transferred, the buyer is required to present their FOID card. This applies to private sales between individuals as well as to sales by Federal Firearms License (FFL) holders. For private sales, the seller is required to keep a record of the transfer for at least 10 years.[6] For FFL sales, the seller must retain the federal Form 4473 for at least 20 years. For firearm sales by an FFL holder, or at a gun show, the seller must perform an automated dial-up check with the State Police, to verify that the FOID card is valid, and to redo the background check of the buyer;[3] this additional checking is known as the Firearm Transfer Inquiry Program (FTIP).[7] The buyer is also required to present their FOID card when purchasing ammunition.
So Chuck's cannot legally sell to anyone who does not have an FOID. Chuck's must also keep a record of all purchases for 10 years. How is it that all these apparent straw purchases have been going on at Chuck's? Either there have been 1,300 different buyers since 2008 OR someone or a few somebodies is buying a lot of guns and it isn't tripping any warnings.
You would think that if Chuck's has to keep records for 10 years that upon discovery of a gun that is traced to Chuck's, the buyer would be quickly identified and arrested for illegally transferring a gun to someone who should not have had one. After a bit of time, Chuck's would no longer be a good place for such purchases no?
So I take exception to the idea that Chuck's is an "ATM" for gun crimes. Clearly someone else is the ATM, because unless or until proven otherwise, Chuck's is doing business in full compliance of applicable law. Furthermore the entire article focusing on Chuck's rather than the [most likely] gang members who are actually breaking the law.
Let me be clear. Chuck's is no more responsible for gun crime in Chicago than Sears is responsible for the misuse of the knives it sells in it's stores or Ford for the criminal use of it's cars.
There are large swaths of the US where there are lots of guns and little gun crime. Gun crime is largely an urban problem. To be blunt, in NY, gun crime is largely a black male problem. Black males are the ones shot and the ones doing most of the shooting. In Chicago, gun crime is large a black male problem with black males being shot and the shooters. Let's stop with trying to find blame with other people and businesses. Let's address this issue of a
minority of black men who do not value their lives and the lives of those who are around them. The mentality of the kids at the mall in Chicago recently trashing stores and damaging automobiles. It is the mentality of the kids that were running up the Magnificent Mile, bumping into people and starting fights.
That is the source of much of Chicago's gun crimes. Guns are inanimate objects. They can do
nothing without someone using it. It's time to talk about the someone.
