Oregon Police Chief leads lonely charge for stricter gun buyer background checks

[SecularMotion]

In an era in which pro-gun advocates have been racking up a string of victories, Doug Pettit is trying to hit the brakes. The Oregon police chief, who serves as the legislative chairman for the Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association, is one of the most vocal proponents of expanding background checks for gun buyers.

Pettit and his group are part of a national push by the National Law Enforcement Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence, which hopes to convince federal lawmakers to mandate background checks on people who purchase guns at gun shows, flea markets and other venues that don’t involve licensed gun dealers.

How big a deal is that? The partnership says that about 40 percent of gun purchases fall outside background check requirements. So when you hear about record-breaking handgun purchases -- which are calculated using data from background checks -- you can calculate the actual number of new guns on the street by increasing the reported number by two-thirds.

Not only that, those who do go through background checks can slide through the cracks. Take Seung Hui Cho, who in 2007 killed 32 people at Virginia Tech. If state authorities there had submitted Cho’s mental health records to the background check system like they should have, Cho never would have passed the two background checks that paved the way for the massacre. Virginia now has one of the best compliance records in the nation, according to a group called Mayors Against Illegal Guns. Pettit’s group is pushing for other states to follow suit.

http://host.madison.com/news/local/crime_and_courts/blog/q-a-oregon-police-chief-leads-lonely-charge-for-stricter/article_cfa7a0d8-e8bb-11e1-af96-0019bb2963f4.html#ixzz245j5jig2

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. Zealots often have a lonely road

Its a good thing too

[CreekDog]

2. He's not a zealot but nice try there, way to misinform

an eminently reasonable person, with a view shared by billions who value freedom around the world.

by your standards, if you said to enforce existing gun laws, you would have to call yourself a zealot.

-----

Actually, based on the ignorance of your statement, I'm guessing you didn't read the article, I doubt you even read the excerpt, or else you wouldn't have said the ridiculous thing you said. Or else you intended to try to tell people something false.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. I suggest you delve into the organizations he supports/is a member in

He is for much more than just mandatory checks. The article does not go into everything, but his Q&A mentions support for the AWB.

[rrneck]

3. I dont think you can buy a new gun without a NICS check. nt

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

5. But I can sell you a used gun without a NICS check

... as long as we're residents of the same state. Interstate sales have to go through a licensed dealer, who will do the NICS check.

That's for long guns. Pistol sales rules may be stricter, depending on the state.

[rrneck]

8. True. But your gun is already "on the street"

so increasing the perceived number of guns "out there" by compounding new sales with sales of existing guns is disingenuous. He's making it sound like every private sale is a straw purchase, which is clearly not the case.

[Callisto32]

6. "Lonely charge"...huh.

Wouldn't that just be a "run"?

[Clames]

7. More anti-gunner math fail.

How can you calculate the actual number of new guns hitting the streets by factoring in private sales of used guns? The stupidity should be painful

[Callisto32]

9. The Prussian school system is very good at one thing.

Giving people the (to me) unfathomable ability to denounce the pain of believing "A and (not A)."

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

11. In relation to guns...

...could that be called an "illogical phallacy"?

[Callisto32]

13. They say puns are the lowest form of humor.

They are wrong.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

15. Who says that??

“Energizer Bunny Arrested! Charged with Battery.”

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/28/opinion/28Tartakovsky.html

[BigAlanMac]

10. I'd just like to point out

that the "Oregon" in the title of this thread and the linked article is not the state but rather Oregon is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin. As of the census of 2010, the population was 9,231. Oregon is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area. The village is located mostly within the Town of Oregon.

[GreenStormCloud]

12. I have caught him in a lie, so he has lost credibility with me.

From the article: Pettit recently sat down to talk about his problems with background checks, the state’s hastily passed concealed carry law, and the failure of politicians to slow the agenda of the National Rifle Association and the rest of the pro-gun lobby.

Hastily passed? The CC bill for WI was the result of years of political fighting. It wasn't a rush job.

[4th law of robotics]

14. Do guns even kill that many people in Oregon?

From my research 90% of the fatalities out west are from dysentery or failed attempts to ford a river.