All we have to do is enforce the laws we have . . .
An oft repeated phrase of the pro-gun proliferation crowd. Well, it's against the law for felons, convicted wife beaters and drug abusers to have guns, so let's enforce that.
To begin with, federal laws are enforced by federal agents. Local law enforcement doesn't generally get involved and some states even forbid state and local LEOs from doing so. The SCOTUS has ruled that states don't have to enforce Federal law and many don't. So that puts a lie to "we don't need another state law because it's against Federal law to (fill in the blank)".
So, okay we have state laws. Take California which has a task-force to investigate, find and confiscate guns held by prohibited people. There are currently about 20,000 prohibited persons with guns in the state. There are 51 people on the task-force. Quick math says that minus weekends, vacation, national holidays and maybe a few sick days each one of those would have to process almost two gun criminals a day. Keep in mind that a lot of the 51 in the task force don't actually round up bad guys; they process computer searches, paper work and the like. And then there's the 7,000 or so new prohibited persons added every year.
All that and California is one of a very few states with a gun owner registry so they can cross reference felony convictions to current gun owners. Without that there would be no way to even know how many gun criminals there are much less who they are. Last year Maryland tried to institute a similar database but the bill failed.
Oh, and guess what? Congressional Republicans are investigating the task force to find out why they are so ineffective thus pulling the 51 members off their task to justify their existence. It's a common Conservative practice; cut funding, investigate and guarantee that efforts to (fill in the blank) are thwarted so they can say,"See, government doesn't work!"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2015/05/05/california-discovers-its-really-expensive-to-confiscate-peoples-guns/
= new reply since forum marked as read
