(from: jonathangiordano3u8.weebly.com)
A recent “gun violence” theme issue of the medical journal Preventive Medicine consists of a flurry of the customary public health gun control propaganda churned out by the usual career anti-gun rights advocates—Hemenway, Wintemute, Vernick, and Webster. Nothing new there. Over the years we’ve grown used to the steady drumbeat of what appear to be scientific papers based on legitimate research, but in fact are thinly disguised political hit pieces against gun owners.
But one paper stands out in this issue, “Sources of Guns to Dangerous People: What We Learn by Asking Them”, authored by Duke University criminologist Philip J. Cook and his research team. These authors sought to determine how Chicago crooks procure the tools of their trade, guns—mostly handguns.
In a refreshing departure from the usual modus operandi of public health academics, they didn’t concoct an ideological virtual reality using statistical sleight of hand. No cherry-picking of data, no misuse of statistical methods such as using case-control comparisons to determine causality. Cook actually conducted face-to-face interviews of 99 Cook County Jail inmates who had been arrested for a firearm offense or whose rap sheet included a history of firearm offenses (subjects had been arrested in the past an average of 13 times).
The subjects were overwhelmingly black (83%) or Hispanic/Latino (11%), and a majority (57%) were between 18 and 25 years old. Approximately 121 (88%) of the total invited participants were or had been gang affiliated, according to Chicago Police Department records.
Cook’s trained interviewers asked the subjects a list of simple questions about their possession or involvement with guns, and they recorded the results in simple table form. Of particular interest were the sources of guns for this group of career criminals. On this topic the inmates spoke freely and frankly of how they typically get their clearly illegal firearms. 70 of the 99 interviewees admitted having access to a gun during the previous six months, although the “deniers” almost all answered questions about their general involvement with guns.
Cook and his coauthors found that these young career criminals got their guns mostly from people in their social circle. The transcribed responses of these practical-minded young thugs are quite illuminating, and I highly recommend reading them.
Table 2—Source of Guns shows 48.9% of all guns were purchased from a seller with whom the buyer had a prior personal relationship—a family member, a gang source, or other connection. Another 15.6% of guns were obtained through a mutual acquaintance or the black market or “street”. Only 1.5% (2/135) of guns were bought at a gun store, giving the lie to the “Bad Apple Gun Dealer” myth promoted by The Brady Campaign (formerly known as Handgun Control, Inc.). Chuck’s Gun Shop outside of Chicago was credited by interviewees as an original source of their guns, but not through store sales. Chicago gun control advocates profess outrage that anyone outside the city limits would sell guns, but what else would they expect, since no guns stores are allowed within the city of Chicago?
Significantly, no category is listed for “gun show” as a source for illegal guns for the criminals interviewed. Nor do the many transcribed responses of the criminals include any hint that they obtained their guns at gun shows.
A favorite obsession of gun prohibitionists is to pass yet another gun control law closing what they call the “gun show loophole”. They contend, against all previous evidence, that criminals go to gun shows to stock up on the tools of their trade without having to go through the NICS check required by gun retailers. This study helps once again to discredit that myth.
Finally, this study is noteworthy for the insights it gives into the criminal subculture, which gun prohibitionists like to pretend is not distinct, but a part of America’s 100 million gun owners and the problem of “gun violence” they all are somehow responsible for. The authors observe:
“Still, it is interesting to note that the majority of respondents [Rs] demonstrated little knowledge of firearms. Many of the comments by Rs demonstrated ignorance of the manner in which firearms function, the ammunition requirements and the capabilities of their weapon of choice. Rs never discussed safe handling or storage practices, nor did they mention efforts to improve their knowledge of the firearms they possessed.”
So—ignorance of firearms function and of ammunition requirements, no interest in safe handling and storage, and no desire to learn about any of it. Aside from their murdering, robbing, and other terrors they inflict on their fellow Chicagoans, is there any clearer demonstration that these are not your typical American gun owners?
—Timothy Wheeler, MD is director of Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership, a project of the Second Amendment Foundation.