Two Pennsylvania women admit to gun trafficking

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The one thing most Second Amendment advocates agree with anti-gun folks on is that we don’t want to see armed criminals. Where we begin to diverge is that they blame gun stores and we recognize that gun trafficking is a crime and generally doesn’t involve lawful transactions from the get-go.

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While the guns might originate from a gun store, they’re usually obtained fraudulently when they’re not outright stolen, then funneled to criminal hands.

In Pennsylvania, two women have admitted to their role in such a scheme.

Two women, one from Pottstown and another from Berks County, admitted to charges they illegally purchased guns for a multi-county gun trafficking network.

Maliqa Deja Jack, 26, of the 400 block of Chestnut Street, Pottstown, and Makayla Prince, 23, of the first block of Monroe Street, Mohnton, Berks County, each pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to felony charges of corrupt organizations, dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities, making false statements, criminal use of a communication facility and illegal sale or transfer of firearms in connection with a gun trafficking organization that allegedly relied heavily on so-called “straw purchase” schemes.

Judge Henry S. Hilles III deferred sentencing so that court officials can complete background investigation reports about the two women. Jack and Prince each remain free on bail pending sentencing hearings tentatively scheduled for March.

The women potentially face decades in prison on the charges.

The women committed straw purchases in order to obtain guns–as I said, obtaining them fraudulently–then resold them to prohibited persons.

And, of course, breaking all kinds of laws in the first place.

Of course, there are those who think a few more laws would have stopped these two women. “If there was a requirement for universal background checks-”

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Hold up there, Sparky. These are women who obtained guns illegally, then sold them illegally. Do you really think a universal background check law is what would have tripped them up? I don’t think so.

Instead, they simply broke a number of laws and engaged in gun trafficking–which really can be as simple as taking a gun from the lawful market and putting it on the black market–and now are looking at a potentially long prison sentence.

Can’t say that I feel bad about it, either.

After all, these guns were sold to prohibited persons. At least some of them wanted those guns so they could commit crimes with them, crimes that would later be used to justify more gun control on the rest of us. That’s how this works. They break the law and we get stuck with a push for more laws for them to break.

Meanwhile, we’re left hoping and praying we can hold onto as many of our rights as possible. We’re left scrambling for anything we can do to keep more gun control from interfering with our best hope to protect all of us from tyranny.

And why? Because people like these two wanted to make a fast buck and put guns in the hands of criminals.

I sincerely hope they rot.

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