Mayor Bloomberg is at his anti-gun rhetoric again. Snowflakes in Hell takes a look at Bloomberg’s accusation that carrying a gun while intoxicated is equally as dangerous as driving while intoxicated. From the blog:
Is it though? In 2006, 13,470 people were killed in alcohol related motor vehicle accidents. If you factor in other drugs, that number increases by about 7600 to 21,047. In 2006, there were a total of about 642 accidental deaths from guns. Even if you include intentional deaths from guns, that number only rises to the same level as the number of alcohol related traffic fatalities. That’s without even controlling for alcohol or other impairing substances being a factor. Clearly this is not as large a public safety issue.
Now I’m not advocating carrying a gun while drinking, in fact I’m against that exact act. But to compare drinking and driving which kills equally as many people as the total number of homicides with firearms each year to something that kills so few relatively is hysterics at best. This claim is being made in Mayor Bloomberg’s push to enact three new gun laws. The first of these is:
Carrying a licensed gun with a blood alcohol content above 0.08 percent — the legal limit for driving — would be punishable by a year in jail and a fine of up to $10,000.
I guess this would make some semblance of sense if people beyond the select elite few could actually carry guns in the state of New York. Remember New York state is a may issue state and New York city is unwilling to issue permits to almost anybody besides the politically well connected. Hence this really is a non-issue in New York city at the moment.
Possession of any ammunition that can piece cops’ bulletproof vests would be a felony carrying a minimum sentence of one year.
Let’s look at the law regarding the manufacturing of armor piercing ammunition shall we:
(a) It shall be unlawful –
…
(7) for any person to manufacture or import armor piercing
ammunition, unless –
(A) the manufacture of such ammunition is for the use of the
United States, any department or agency of the United States,
any State, or any department, agency, or political subdivision
of a State;
(B) the manufacture of such ammunition is for the purpose of
exportation; or
(C) the manufacture or importation of such ammunition is for
the purpose of testing or experimentation and has been
authorized by the Attorney General;
So really possession of armor piercing ammunition is also a non-issue since manufacturing it for civilians is a no-no. That means the armor piercing ammunition that is currently out there is the only armor piercing ammunition that will every be available in this country. Purchasing from a limited supply of something rare is exceedingly expensive, hence it’s self controlled. This law is bullshit being presented to build up fear among the populace that people are using armor piercing ammunition to kill police officers.
Knowingly putting a gun into the hands of a child would rise to a three-and-a-half-year minimum sentence.
Does this include a parent taking their child hunting or to the range while the child is under adult supervision? That’s a pretty big deal. Might want to mention an exception for that if it exists.