Jul 9, 2009 4:06 pm US/Eastern
More Can Be Done To Get Illegal Guns Off Streets
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
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Most of the murders and shootings in Baltimore are committed with illegal guns. A national study shows much more could be done to prevent that.
CBS
Most of the murders and shootings in Baltimore are committed with illegal guns. A national study shows much more could be done to prevent that.
Suzanne Collins has details of that report from Johns Hopkins.
A week ago Thursday a five-year-old girl was critically wounded when a teenager with an illegal gun fired shots on a West Baltimore Street. Neighbors marched Wednesday night. Residents are fed up with the gun crimes that put everyone at risk.
"Everywhere you go its drugs, guns, fighting, thugs, what can we do about it," said Darlene Jones, resident.
A new report from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health says tougher laws on sales of guns and enforcement of those laws could significantly cut the number of illegal guns.
State's that require licenses to purchase a gun, have much lower rates of illegal gun trafficking. The theory is taking a friend in to buy a gun for you at a gun shop is one thing, but going to state police is another.
"If required to obtain a license that criminals might be reluctant to have that kind of contact with police," said Jon Vernick.
Maryland does license gun shops, which can help reduce illegal guns, but the study shows our states laws on that and enforcement are weak.
"What Maryland could do more of is routine inspections to check the dealer's inventory against their sales records. They could even do undercover sting operations to be sure the dealers aren't making illegal sales," said Vernick.
Maryland does have a law limiting gun purchases to one a month, but this study shows that had no effect on reducing the number of illegal guns in the cities studied.
Other East Coast cities, with tougher laws on gun shops rank much better when it comes to the number of crimes linked to illegal guns. Topping the list of illegal guns are Camden and Newark New Jersey, New York City, and Boston. Baltimore comes in 17th of 54 cities. A city councilman says Baltimore police are working hard on the problem, but the state must help.
"They have been going after most violent offenders and they have been making a difference in getting some illegal guns off the street. However, we need our friends in Annapolis to implement the same laws that Boston and some of the other cities have in that study and we need to do the same thing," said Bernard Jack Young, Baltimore City Council.
The study says it's much more successful when states tightly regulate gun shops, because federal oversight is weak.
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