Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Straddling the Fence

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl allowed a city gun control bill to become law without his signature.

In a letter to council, Mr. Ravenstahl said the bill will be unenforceable and pre-empted by state law...
So I don't suppose you could have intentional state lawbreakers arrested?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm sure you meant that as a rhetorical question sir but it is a good question.

The situations in Philadelphia and Seattle are similar (with the Government passing illegal laws) to this and no one is being held responsible for openly breaking the law by passing laws known to be pre-empted.

Isn't the Attorney General of each respective state responsible for prosecuting these type crimes?

Not to sound naive but is this just political and idealogical collusion?

Anonymous said...

Sounds like the mayor is a realistic guy.

That being said, straw purchases are the next big battleground, like it or not.

Perhaps that's a good thing, since gun owners are not served by those that buy guns for prohibited possessors.

In AZ, it's so rampant that there's a joke I was told by a salesman in my favorite gunshop:

Q: How many Mexicans does it take to buy a gun?

A: Three: One to fill out the paperwork since he speaks English, one that can pass a background check, and one to take possession.

The stories they've told me about blatant attempts to make straw purchases were shocking, and ATF's reaction: they couldn't even be bothered to investigate.

Even more sobering is the number that likely succeed because the "buyer" isn't a complete dolt.