In the interest of advancing more policy-oriented discussions here at RU, I am reposting this item from my own blog. I wrote about the problem of gun trafficking at The Big Sticklast year.  Republicans have a long history of generally being on the right side of law enforcement, which is why we typically enjoy the support of police unions across the country. We also have traditionally been the best defenders of gun rights and have rightly resisted knee-jerk legislation aimed at taking guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens in a futile effort to curb crime. We recognize that lawful gun owners are not the problem. But obviously gun crime continues to be a serious issue in this country. How can we reduce it? This post lays out some good ideas on where to start…

While I am not particularly interested in assault weapons, especially for the few knuckleheads who take them hunting, I am not opposed to their ownership by law-abiding folks. For those of us who enjoy shooting there is always a fascination with firearms. I realize the liberal urge is to associate it with some sort of phallic-envy, but I’d say it’s more visceral than that. It’s akin to the same impulse that forces me to look at every tool in the Craftsman catalog, pause the remote when I see This Old House on television and what makes me enjoy chopping wood for an hour when I could just buy it from the feed store down the road. I’m not going to pretend that everyone should understand this, but I don’t see anything wrong with it either.

Personally, I am a wing-shooter and shotguns are what rings my bell. Are they as deadly as an assault rifle? In the right hands, yes. So are hand guns, semi-automatic ‘black rifles’, Chinese stars and those big Rambo knives they sell at flea markets.

While yes, assault weapons are more efficient at killing folks, data actually shows that handguns are the most lethal in the U.S. The big problem I see with assault weapons is the same problem we have with all weapons and that is the loopholes in enforcement which allow gun traffic to thrive, especially in inner cities. Any new gun legislation would be much better aimed at catching gun traffickers than in going after a particular type of gun. On this point both conservatives and liberals need to change their views.

Conservatives have been guilty of obstructing any attempts at gun regulation, even in the form of simple gun sales restrictions. Their fear of this being the first step towards taking their guns is justified, but it makes their obstruction no less problematic. On the other side of the aisle, liberals refuse to see the corollary between criminals and gun crime and instead blame the guns themselves, which is misplaced.

Over at Democracy Journalthere is an excellent piece entitled, “Deepen Gun Ownership” by Jim Kessler. Mr. Kessler does a far better job than I could of explaining the problem of gun trafficking.

An excerpt:

There are 280 million firearms in private hands in America, and last year there were about 300,000 gun crimes. That means that at least 279,700,000 guns did nothing wrong. We also know that in 89 percent of crimes, the person using the gun was not the person who originally bought it. In 34 percent of crimes, the firearm was bought in one state and used in a crime in another. And in 32 percent of crimes, the firearm was less than three years old.

This indicates that the root of America’s gun crime problem is not the number of guns in the hands of Americans, but an extensive web of gun trafficking operations that funnel firearms to criminals. In some cases, the trafficking operations cover long distances. Nearly 40 percent of all crime guns recovered in New Jersey and New York came from Virginia, Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas. Nine out of 10 crime guns changed hands between the first purchase (which was likely legal) to the last purchase (which was certainly illegal). What we need, then, is a new national strategy to reduce gun violence: Don’t restrict gun rights, but instead deepen the sense of gun ownership.

The first step is to make gun trafficking a federal crime, not a term of art. There is only one statute on the federal books that deals even indirectly with gun trafficking–a vague, loophole-ridden law that allows only federally licensed gun stores “to engage in the business” of dealing in firearms. Since federal law allows any individual to sell his or her own firearms to anyone else, the “engaged in the business” bar is virtually insurmountable. And since any individual may also sell firearms without performing a background check, asking for identification, or keeping any sort of record, the requirement that individuals not knowingly sell to criminals is merely a suggestion. That is why federal prosecutors in 29 states filed five or fewer cases related to trafficking behavior over a recent three-year period.

Obviously, I do not feel that banning assault weapons is the answer. I believe the answer is in fighting trafficking and in making gun owners more accountable, not by taking their guns away. Republicanism should be about using sensible legislation to achieve radical results. In order to demonstrate that though, our side is going to have to give a little and frankly, it shouldn’t be that hard. Hunters, of which many are registered Republicans, have long self-regulated themselves and actually requested newer laws aimed at making our sport more fair, more safe and ultimately more responsible. Likewise, who is better suited to suggest smart gun control legislation, gun owners or people who are ideologically opposed to gun ownership from the start? I think the answer is clear and I think a Republican party that is proactive on gun control is one that will begin to earn the trust of the very communities that are most hurt by gun violence.