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Originally Posted by longbough
I'd like you to consider another type of crime - that is, rape.
I have treated rape victims when I used to work in the Emergency Department on the east coast. Just about every one of them wished to forget about the incident and move on with their lives. Every habitual rapist is aware of that - and it works in their favor. It shouldn't surprise you to know that the vast majority of rape cases will never get reported or recorded in the statistics.
I have yet to know of a single rapist caught who didn't have a history of multiple rapes that were never reported.
In cases of rape, the term "just give him what he wants" doesn't make much sense to me. As a male the fear of being sexually harrassed or assaulted is foreign to me - but I know many women who are forced to consider that possibility every time they enter an unfamiliar place or situation.
My stomach turns when I think of sexual offenses committed against women (who remain in the majority). If I were a woman I would be even more passionate about my right to own and carry a firearm.
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Rape is truely a horriffic crime, one that statisticly can be protected against with the use of mase or a stun gun, both of which are still legal and will continue to be legal in San Francisco.
Back to Charlaton and my question: Where do criminals get their guns?
EDIT: Did a search and came up with this:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontl...ocon/guns.html
Some highlights include:
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Stolen guns account for only about 10% to 15% of guns used in crimes...
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According to a 1994 ATF study on "Sources of Crime Guns in Southern California," many straw purchases are conducted in an openly "suggestive" manner where two people walk into a gun store, one selects a firearm, and then the other uses identification for the purchase and pays for the gun. Or, several underage people walk into a store and an adult with them makes the purchases. Both of these are illegal activities.
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The next biggest source of illegal gun transactions where criminals get guns are sales made by legally licensed but corrupt at-home and commercial gun dealers. Several recent reports back up Wachtel's own studies about this, and make the case that illegal activity by those licensed to sell guns, known as Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs), is a huge source of crime guns and greatly surpasses the sale of guns stolen from John Q. Citizen. Like bank robbers, who are interested in banks, gun traffickers are interested in FFLs because that's where the guns are. This is why FFLs are a large source of illegal guns for traffickers, who ultimately wind up selling the guns on the street.
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...of the 120,370 crime guns that were traced to purchases from the FFLs then in business, 27.7 % of these firearms were seized by law enforcement in connection with a crime within two years of the original sale. This rapid `time to crime' of a gun purchased from an FFL is a strong indicator that the initial seller or purchaser may have been engaged in unlawful activity.
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over-the-counter purchases are not the only means by which guns reach the illegal market from FFLs" and reveals that 23,775 guns have been reported lost, missing or stolen from FFLs since September 13, 1994...
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Sounds like we need better monitoring of legal dealers. With legal dealers shutting down in San Francisco, it's possible that the distribution within city limits will take a serious hit.