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Christian Science Monitor writes story around VPC press release

Below, I noted a press release by the antigun Violence Policy Center rejoicing in the decline of licensed firearms dealers (mostly reflecting the loss of small licensees who bought for themselves or a few friends).

The Christian Science Monitor has written a story around the press release. I must say the slant is low enough to where it falls within the "slant produced by a writer given a press release and a few hours to create a story around it" rather than the "slant produced by a writer who is out to bend things to specification."

Another VPC quote of the "we can make up anything and you'll print it" variety ""What we really don't want to see is a return to the early '90s, when there was just horror story after horror story of people who were using their license to buy huge numbers of guns and then traffic them illegally into urban areas with strict gun-control laws."

Uh ... name one?

A modest proposal for dealer inspections: right now, ATF encourages every police agency to trace every gun they encounter (including lost guns, stolen guns, whatever) because that way ATF can testify in appropriations hearings that they traced a zillion guns last year.

Split the traces -- record whether they were for a gun actually used in crime, or not. Take the traces for guns really used in crimes. Plot them against dealers. Now, some dealers will stand out for entirely innocent reasons (they're the biggest dealer in the county, and a certain proportion of any dealer's guns will be later stolen and used in crime). But at the least, you can probably screen out the great bulk of dealers and worry about inspecting the handful that remain. If a dealer has had zero real crime traces last year, you can skip inspecting him, and if only a few, probably ditto. Who cares whether he is 100% on his paperwork?

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