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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGuns in the Sun - In Florida They Will Shoot You Dead, and It’ll Probably Be Legal - Vice - yikes!
Last edited Mon Jan 21, 2013, 12:30 PM - Edit history (1)
make sure you get to pg. 4 with the illegal gun sale. yikes.
this is a surprising unbiased article from a gun luvah. i like the way he throws miami dade in between rich psychos and boiled-brain weirdos...
http://www.vice.com/read/guns-in-the-sun-004469-v19n12
The original version of this article appeared in the print edition of VICEs December Hopelessness Issue. It was sent to press two weeks before Fridays massacre in Newtown, Connecticutone that ripped the heart straight out of Americas chest. An unfortunately timely piece, it has been updated accordingly.
Growing up in the Sunshine State, I was brought up around guns and taught to respect their power, ensuring that I accepted the full spectrum of responsibility that comes with owning or even holding a firearm. Many of the people who raised me (with the important exception of my mother) felt that it was their duty to teach me the basics of gun safety, in the same way everyone should know how to fix a flat tire. This does not mean I agree with all or even the majority of American firearms laws. And in order to delve into the minutia of one of the most troubling catch-22s of our time, in mid-November I waded through the swampy backwaters of firearms legislation in my home state, which I hoped would serve as a microcosm for the rest of the nation. I believe it served its purpose.
For starters, to the vehemently antigun among you, to gain some perspective on how we arrived at this seemingly unsolvable problem, I issue this challenge: Put yourself in a place where your life or safety, or that of a loved one, is in grave danger. Then imagine that place is a sunny peninsula made up of hardworking citizens, self-reliant yet senile old folks, self-described crackers (google the etymology of that one if you dont know it already), ultraviolent face-eating felons, disgustingly rich sociopaths, Miami-Dade County, and the creepiest boiled-brain tweaker weirdos on Earth. Welcome to Florida, population 19 million. Based on my years of experience trolling around with, at turns, some of the most interesting, valiant, and despicable residents of the state, I can assure you that many wholly sensible and productive Floridians of all stripes own guns. And yeah, a lot of scumbags have them, too, and they will shoot you without hesitation if they feel so inclined.
***
Regardless of where you stand on the issue of firearms laws, you might say that the situation presents what Horst Rittel and Melvin M. Webbers definition of a wicked problem outlined in their 1973 treatise on the subject. A wicked problem is something that cant be objectively solved or even describedcoming up with a hard-and-fast definition of a wicked problem is in itself a wicked problem. These sorts of dilemmas do not have an enumerable (or exhaustively describable) set of potential solutions, nor is there a well-described set of permissible operations that may be incorporated into the plan... Every wicked problem is essentially unique... Every wicked problem can be considered to be a symptom of another problem.
Just like abortion, gay marriage, and other hot-button legal issues, it is nearly impossible to convince someone that his or her opinion about guns is wrong....
Duckhunter935
(16,974 posts)legal sale of a gun between two people in the same state. Did they tell the seller they were performing a straw purchase? It is not possible for a private citizen to access NICS. This needs to change and I am all for going through an FFL for all transfers. How would an FFL know that he would be conducting a straw purchase if the buyer passed the check then went and gave away the gun.
Eddie was a Florida resident and from the article itself.
"but because Eddie had claimed to be a Florida resident during their initial phone call it was still a perfectly legal sale."
farminator3000
(2,117 posts)and the guy didn't give a crap- he just wanted the cash.
didn't even ask for ID.
that is illegal, EVEN IN FLORIDA
Duckhunter935
(16,974 posts)Sale should not of happened and if a FFL transfer was mandated it should have been stopped. I just find it interesting they even said it was legal in the story themselves.
farminator3000
(2,117 posts)so, yes, ILLEGAL, but nobody is checking on anything-
"As far as I could tell, it seemed perfectly legal for a resident to buy a gun from Walmart and later sell that weapon to anyone who claimed to be a resident of the state of Florida. No paperwork or receipt is required, and if the next afternoon the guns buyer decided to load it full of ammo and blow someones brains out, the seller would be pretty much off the hook unless he or she had good reason to suspect a straw sale was being committed, the buyer was ineligible to own such a weapon, or a crime was going to be committed with it.
You cant sell it to a prohibited person, he said. Unless youre put on notice [before the transaction], theres not much you need to inquire except, Are you a prohibited person? Are you from the state of Florida? If you ask those questions and they give you the answer, Yes, Im from Florida, and Im not a prohibited person, unless theres something glaring about it, youre OK to sell.
I still couldnt believe it was that easy, but I was definitely going to find out."