So then we would have to look at every case; felon by felon? We don’t have the resources for that. These are not victimless crimes. We can’t use our own individual and subjective opinions on who is worse than whom and then make individually-based laws on a case by case basis. It would require endless manpower.
We already have a system that is not enforcing current laws of gun control when it comes to felons. Let’s not complicate the issue by saying some felons are ok to carry a firearm and some aren’t. Basically and IMO, your embezzler acquaintance did the same thing as robbing a store (but used a pen or computer instead) and luckily, no one suffered physical harm but likely financial and emotional harm.
We need responsible, sane, non-desperate, law-abiding citizens to own guns. Once you’re a felon, you’ve lost that right. I think this makes sense.
We look at them when they are in the courtroom, and when they are charged. If you are charged with a violent felony, then you don't get firearms back, period. I've spent some time around felons, fwiw. You get convicted of a
violent felony, then you are not a
low level,
non-violent, felon.
At arrest, remove the firearms, and if convicted, then sentence, and permanently remove that right. It won't make a difference though. It's just a law to make us feel good. How do you think that Chicago folks get their firearms? If a violent offender, wants a firearm, they will get one.
Which brings to my second idea, other than families keeping firearms put up, away from their kids, is that all sales, have to go through the background check. All of them. Just as you can't sell a car to a 15 year old w/o insurance or license. Just meet at the gun shop, and have a background check run. If they fail, the private sale doesn't go through. It's a feel good law, but, it's much like a lock, it keeps honest people honest.
From the link below:
"Sixty percent of guns recovered in crimes in Chicago were originally sold in other states, many with weaker gun laws. Specifically, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Mississippi all permit gun owners to sell their guns to other people without any background checks of the new buyer or paperwork recording the sale. This makes it incredibly easy for gun traffickers, violent offenders, and other prohibited purchasers to buy guns undetected."
Not all of Chicago’s crime guns are trafficked from states that fail to regulate private gun sales. Many are coming from dealers in Illinois. To begin to shrink the size of Chicago’s illegal gun market, law enforcement officers and regulators
must be empowered to crack down on the businesses that contribute to the supply of trafficked guns. As reported by a former ATF agent in 2012, often dealers are smart enough to follow the letter of federal law by conducting background checks and checking a buyer’s FOID card. But when they suspect but haven’t verified the buyer is a straw purchaser, they look the other way. Technically the dealer is not violating federal law unless the dealer “knows or reasonably should have known” the buyer is a trafficker. This can be a very difficult standard to prove, and very few dealers are ever reprimanded, including dealers that are the original source of thousands of crime guns.
Note: Unless it has recently been enacted, gun trafficking is not a federal crime.
Tracing Guns (Chicago PD)
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/Assets/downloads/20151102-Tracing-Guns.pdf
