Realco In District Heights Has Real Problems, According to the Washington Post

with "crime guns" and straw purchases:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy....html?hpid=topnews&sub=AR&sid=ST2010102402735

. . . but it is real hard to figure out why.

Do you think that it is simply because they are located in a crappy neighborhood?

Crappy people do crappy things in excess. Did somebody forget that there is nearly a 14 day waiting period (Oh... they convieniently forgot to include that tid-bit) from MSP? (Supposed to be 7 days... but... it's MD.) That ALL BATF FORM 4473 handgun paperwork is cleared by MSP before the buyer can take possession?

"Purchase of a handgun or "assault weapon" from a dealer is subject to disapproval by the Maryland State Police during a seven-day waiting period.

The buyer must complete an application form which is sent by the dealer to the State Police for investigation. The applicant is required to provide information regarding his eligibility to purchase or possess a handgun, and a description (including a serial number) of the handgun being purchased. Fingerprints are not required. There is a $10 fee.

The application may be disapproved only if the purchaser is ineligible or if the information supplied is false or incomplete. If no action is taken within seven working days from the date the application is forwarded by the dealer, the handgun may be delivered to the purchaser. In no case, however, may the handgun be delivered before seven days, even if the application is approved earlier.

A person whose application is denied may request a hearing within 30 days before the Secretary of State Police, who must hold such hearings within 15 days. At the hearing, and in any subsequent court review, the decision generally will be sustained unless it is shown to have been "arbitrary and capricious."

This tale makes it sound as tho you walk in and buy the gun 'n out the door. Not so.

Yeah, Rebel: I noticed that the Washington Post didn't really say much about the rather odious process Maryland purchasers must go through.

That would not have served the purposes of the article, and the Post plainly has an agenda here.

But the Post seems as mystified as anyone as to why this particular establishment has such a large percentage of its guns getting in the hands of the wrong people. The article mentions that Realco had been investigated and cleared, and that it had a sign on the wall explicitly saying that straw purchasers will not be served.

Is the Post just too PC to ask the right questions?

Realco seems to be located in a crime hub. It's not a dealer problem... it's a behavior problem. It's a societal problem peculiar (maybe not so much that, as expected) to that area. WAPO is hardly a bastion of pro-gun fervor as I recall. I don't think they're so much mystified as in denial of the obvious.

To hear the representatives from MSP at their testimony on HB-52 earlier this year, and judging by the LEO statements made on a certain other MD 2A-related forum (which I shall not name), the vetting procedure done by MSP for gun purchase is SO rigorous that it has no parallel in the entire nation, and MSP's procedures are SO thorough that they simply can't trust any other state's background checks to be up to MDs lofty standards.

I think we all know what that really means...

What it means is when they want to deny someone (because of race, political leanings, ethnicity, or location) they just do it as a matter of course.

And when they drop the ball and some criminal ends up with a gun, they push the blame on someone else, as is the case in ALL MD politics...

Dealers DO NOT do background checks in MD or in any other state. The FBI and the MSP do the checks in MD. If a criminal gets a gun through a legal channel in MD, there are FOUR parties, and four parties ONLY that need to take the blame:
1) the FBI/NCIS
2)MSP
3) the criminal
4) any associated "straw purchaser"

Blaming anyone else is plain, unadulterated BS, and is ignoring the REAL problems, which are, that there is almost NO WAY to eliminate straw purchases, and MSP's approval and investigation procedures are so arbitrary, capricious, and non-standardized that they are nearly GUARANTEED to fail, and are impossible to apply any sort of oversight or culpability to...

The Post isn't even worthy of hamster cage liner, IMO. The only thing I use the WaPo for is for is packing material--it's great for wrapping up glassware and dishes when you move.

Maybe all the "fluff" in their articles aids in it's padding abilities...

Sonora Rebel said:

WAPO is hardly a bastion of pro-gun fervor as I recall.

Click to expand...

Unless you are Carl Rowan...

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/27/us/trial-opens-for-rowan-in-shooting-of-trespasser.html

Oh, wait a minute, he pretty much built his entire career at WaPo as a rabid advocate for "gun control". Oops... Sorry about bringing up that "inconvenient truth", Mr. Rowan...

Seems like Mr. Rowan needs to practice a little more "control" with his gun--either by getting to a range (he fired a "warning shot" that struck the alleged intruder in the wrist!), or learning the law, and getting educated on when deadly force is justified (probably NOT in the situation of a teenager trespassing and "pool hopping"...)

The Post is NOT "anti-gun". It's staff just believes that guns shouldn't be in the hands of the "wrong kinds of people"...

And we ALL know what that means...

Racism. Classism. Sexism. These are the building blocks of the Washington Post's mission.

Fear sells papers. And sales are WAY down for print media, so papers like the WaPo are shoveling out the fear by the truckloads to try and save their bacon.

Bottom line... You cannot regulate human behavior. If/When a sub-culture is predisposed to a lack of self-discipline and criminal activity... Criminality will occur. That sub-culture is very much in evidence in P.G. Montgomery County(s) and Baltimore City. Even placid ol' Woodlawn in Balto County is now tagged 'Hoodlawn'.

Nobody... but nobody can obtain a gun thru any licensed FFL in MD w/o approval of the Maryland State Police before delivery. Obviously... this onerous process does not functon according to plan. (It never has, in my estimation) but it feeds the lie to the generally gun-ignorant masses that it does. This article re-enforces that lie... puttiing the onus on Realco by inference and completely omitting the role of MSP. 'It's the EVIL gun dealer' is the intended message.