Donald Trump has ignored the problem of illegal guns in major cities. (Photo: Getty Images)
Donald Trump and his GOP cohorts have been trying to make urban violence a political issue, but they have failed to mention a leading problem–the flow of illegal guns from lax gun-law states into cities like New York, Chicago and Baltimore.
The New York Attorney General released an eye-opening study in 2016, showing most guns used in violent crimes in New York City were purchased out-of-state.
The finding clearly refutes claims by Trump and gun lobbyists that tough gun laws don’t keep guns out of the hands of criminals.
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“The Washington gun lobby’s oft-repeated canard that gun laws are ineffective is just that,” said Navy combat veteran and retired astronaut Mark Kelly, the Co-Founder of Americans for Responsible Solutions.
Kelly, a former U.S. Navy captain, is currently the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in Arizona.
He strongly supports cracking down on the illegal gun trade and has a strong lead in the polls against Republican Sen. Martha McSally.
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McSally is strongly backed by the National Rifle Association (NRA) and has received more than $250,000 from pro-gun groups.
She thinks mass shootings really aren’t the federal government’s problem, according to the Mohave Valley Daily News, a local Arizona newspaper.
But nothing could be further from the truth.
The New York report serves as a “persuasive call for federal action,” said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr.
“No matter how much we strengthen New York’s gun laws, we are fighting an uphill battle in the absence of national reform.”
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In all, nearly 53,000 crime guns recovered by New York law enforcement between 2010 and 2015 were traced, revealing an “iron pipeline” to states with lax or non-existent gun laws.
Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida are the chief sources of guns used by New York State criminals, according to the report.
Nearly three out of four (74 percent) crime guns recovered by police originated out-of-state, while nearly nine out of ten (86 percent) handguns come from out-of-state, the study found.
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“There is still no federal law that prevents someone from crossing state lines with a truckload of guns and selling them to criminals in a parking lot,” Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said when the study was released.
“As long as gun trafficking is not a federal crime, it will continue to be shamefully easy for criminals to get their hands on these weapons.”
The situation is much the same in Chicago, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. The cities are rife with gun violence despite some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation.
But those laws haven’t stopped the illegal flow of guns from lax gun law states.
For some reason, the role of illegal guns in violent urban crime has escaped the attention of major news outlets, at a time when Trump is repeatedly criticizing cities.
Meanwhile, Trump has championed the 2nd Amendment, which provides the legal basis for gun ownership in America.
The NRA has long advocated the unfettered sale of guns on behalf of gun manufacturers.
McSally is typical of GOP lawmakers. She claims all gun laws are unconstitutional.
But the Supreme Court has ruled just the opposite.
In a landmark ruling that establishes the parameters for U.S. gun laws, the high court ruled in DC. v. Heller that the 2nd Amendment only guarantees the right to own a handgun for “home protection.”
Other reasonable laws, such as banning assault weapon sales, are constitutional, the court ruled.
It’s clear by Kelly’s strong lead over McSally that voters favor sensible gun control laws, even in a pro-gun state like Arizona.
Stopping the illegal flow of guns into the nation’s cities with federal gun trafficking laws should be a high priority if Democrats take control of the Senate and Joe Biden wins the presidency.
Hypocritical “law and order” politicians like Trump and GOP have consistently failed to address the problem and will do nothing except pay lip service to violent crime.
And, the slaughter in our cities will continue.