Just another example...
We served a search warrant a couple months ago to help another jurisdiction with a shooting case. Ended up finding several Poly80 guns and large amount of weed and crack. One 18 year old had a Poly80 in his pants when he was detained. He is prohibited due to age and a felony conviction as a juvenile. He is doubly prohibited, in a house with 3 other felons, surrounded by weed and crack. He was charged with firearm violations.
Fast forward to this week. The same 18 year old is involved in a large shooting event in my jurisdiction on Tuesday. On Wednesday we had a double homicide shooting. Again, we believe the 18 year old is involved in this shooting. I spoke with a State's Attorney about his initial charges, which come up for court next week. They wanted to offer a no jail plea (that is their STARTING POINT in negotiations) since its his first gun offense.
The charge of prohibited person states that a person who violates this subsection is guilty of a felony and on conviction is subject to imprisonment for not less than 5 years and not exceeding 15 years. So, screw the mandatory minimum of 5 years... NO JAIL PLEA.
You might be asking yourself, why is a prohibited person charged with a gun offense free to wander around and be involved in two shootings within 36 hours? Yea, I'm wondering the same thing myself. He had a $100 unsecure personal bond and posted that night. That means that when he fails to show up to court next week (because he knows he is a viable suspect in 2 shooting incidents that resulted in 2 deaths), he will owe the court $100.
So yea, I do agree we need some "common sense" gun laws, because the current iteration of laws we have is absurd. There need not be further restrictions on LAW ABIDING CITIZENS that prevent them from owning guns. We need to ENFORCE the existing gun laws when people commit crimes with guns.
Things like this make me glad I'm federal. It pisses me off just hearing about it but I can't imagine the revolving door ******** you go through and the toll it has to take.