Light Blogging Alert

Just a warning. I won't be posting much for a bit. Probably not until after the election. I'm swamped at work and too tired to crank out those 2,500 word fisks, much less spend the face-time necessary to look up idiocy to whup up on.

However, on Sunday I found a series of articles in the Albany Times-Union on gun control in New York (by the ironically named journalist Jordan Carleo-Evangelist) that I thought y'all might find interesting. I had planned on commenting extensively on these pieces, but I think I'll just let them be. Read 'em and discuss amongst yourselves:

Guns and crime: the great debate

Excerpt:

For decades, some states have tried to fight gun violence by a variety of laws restricting gun buying and ownership. Yet homicides involving firearms remain the nation's second leading cause of violent death, trailing only suicides involving guns.

That experience has led to a growing body of research that suggests the relationship between gun-control laws and gun crime is at best unclear. The most promising solutions to gun violence, say some researchers, may have little to do with passing new gun laws.

Cop's slaying spotlights challenges of gun control

Excerpt:

The handgun used to fatally wound Albany Police Lt. John Finn last December presents a lesson in the complexity -- and perhaps the futility -- of New York's gun control laws.

Keshon Everett, who has since pleaded guilty to murder, was on federal probation for a felony drug conviction when he shot Finn three times on Dec. 23. He used a gun purchased in Ohio more than a decade ago.

Gun permit rules open to interpretation

Excerpt:

The U.S. Air Force trained Maj. Dave Panzera how to fire machine guns, and has certified him to carry a gun at work since 1985. Oklahoma, Florida and Arkansas all let him carry a pistol anywhere he went, issuing a concealed weapon permit in no time at all.

But New York was different. Despite his military service and training, the 38-year-old father of five had to prove to this state that he's an upstanding citizen before he could have a gun.

Programs, activism target gun crimes

Excerpt:

"The Weed and Seed model has not failed," insisted Richard Ortiz, the Buffalo Police Department's chief for administration. "We have to be creative because we can no longer do things on overtime."

One lesson learned from the program, Mestre said, is that gun violence can be reduced without passing new gun laws.

"The folks who have these guns are not paying attention to any laws. What they're paying attention to is enforcement -- whether they're being prosecuted," he said.

Politics, paranoia fuel war of words over guns

Excerpt:

School shootings are rare. Disarming drug dealers would save more lives than banning certain types of guns or making it harder for otherwise law-abiding people to own one, they said.

The panel identified promising strategies to reduce gun violence that appeared to be working in Buffalo, New York City and other places. The programs encourage citizens to get involved in community improvement while police step up efforts to seize illegal weapons from known criminals.

Following that strategy, Lizotte said, New York City cut homicides from 2,245 in 1990 to 598 in 2003.

"No new laws were passed," he said. "New York is the shining example that something can happen while enforcing existing laws."