New Jersey man indicted for providing "community guns"

(AP Photo/Philip Kamrass, File)

Community guns are something most of us don’t really run into. We may loan a friend a gun for a while, but usually for self-defense or hunting season or something like that. We don’t typically loan or rent guns out to people to go and do whatever they want, then return them later.

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Yet that’s what “community guns” actually are. It’s like a library of guns–which, frankly, sounds kind of awesome–but only for criminals–which is less awesome.

Luckily, with their strict gun control laws, you know New Jersey doesn’t have to worry about this, right?

Oh, wait…

Quaneisha Frost-Clark, 27, of Loganville, Georgia, and Marquise Peterson, 28, of Trenton, are accused of conspiracy, possessing the guns and transporting them to the state during a six-month period in 2020. The indictment was handed up Wednesday and made public Thursday.

Acting state Attorney General Platkin said the case highlights law enforcement efforts to combat gun trafficking, adding that the “vast majority” of firearms used in criminal activity in New Jersey originate from out of state. He also noted this case involves so-called “community guns,” which are firearms that are transferred among two or more persons who use them for unlawful reasons.

No, no, no, no, no.

I have it on good authority that laws like those on the books in New Jersey are essential in stopping people from being able to do anything illegal with a firearm. Could all those people have been completely, totally, and laughably wrong?

Well, yeah.

Of course, I expect some to focus on these guns coming from Georgia as if that’s some kind of big deal, but the truth of the matter is that it was New Jersey’s state law that did nothing to stop these community guns from becoming a thing.

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And really, how can it?

These are criminals, people who break the law as a matter of course. They’re not going to suddenly decide that the gun laws are the line in the sand they won’t cross. So, they’ll hand out guns to their friends to do whatever with–probably for a fee–then take them back when it’s all over. In fact, it’s the gun laws in New Jersey that likely make this practice so attractive.

Community guns, however, make it harder for the police. Even if they recover a firearm, they can’t tie it to one person–another fact that makes these things attractive.

The truth of the matter is, though, that New Jersey’s gun control laws don’t do any of the things that some people seem to believe they do. This indictment is just one of a plethora of examples we come across on a regular basis.

Whether or not community guns become a prevalent thing in this country or not, the truth of the matter is that focusing on guns hasn’t worked at all over the last century or so. As such, maybe it’s time to try and do something else. After all, it can hardly work worse than gun control has.

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