It's not the cops' fault - it's not that they don't want to lock these scumbags up, nor do they want to harass the store owner. The problem is a legal system that keeps people from defending themselves. The only legal solution is for local politicians to raise the severity of the offense for shoplifting.
I have no idea why such a big deal has been made of this. No, the guy isn't giving free guns out right there - he's basically giving away a gift certificate, and the recipient must pass a background check. The dealership is in an area of the US where legal gun ownership is common, and most of the purchasers already legally own firearms.
As far as it only being "a matter of time" before "one of these guns kills some innocent," the purchaser would have to have a clean record, (believe it or not, those who use guns in crimes steal them or purchase them illegally) If such a gun-runner was going to purchase firearms to sell illegally, do you think he/she would go through the trouble of spending $10k+ on a car just to get one small pistol, and leave the trail of paperwork that a background check creates?
I don't understand. Have they actually made, or are working on, an affordable virtual reality helmet? Or is this just an "in the future, this would be cool" idea? If so, big deal - people have been prophesizing about VR for the masses for decades.
They left off one of my favorites - the Dr. Who episode "The Talons of Weng-Chiang," which co-starred British actor John Bennett as a Chinese villain, complete with bad makeup, bad (ls instead of rs) accent, opium smoking, and a secret lair (where else) in a Chinese laundromat. The ironic thing is that it's such a spectacular story!
First of all, this isn't a recent idea at all, it's at the very least twenty years old - I don't understand why it's up here.
Second of all, the problem, to paraphrase #2 in Austin Powers, is that there is no 'world' anymore, there's just the corporations. Economy has supply and demand. Our politicians sold our country out decades ago, creating a "Global Economy" where the poor of the world supply and America's middle class buy. NAFTA was just the final nail in the coffin.
I know some are going to roll their eyes at this post, but if it weren't the case and our politicians were actually for the people, our public education system wouldn't be the lowest in the industrialized world, college would be affordable, our manufacturing and support jobs wouldn't have gone overseas, a blind eye wouldn't be turned to illegal immigration (please read that world "illegal" again before you flame) so a slave class could be created and the minimum wage and labor unions could be circumvented, our nation would use our nations own oil reserves and research ethanol to remove our dependency on foreign oil and the devastation its done to our economy... the list goes on and on.
As far as it only being "a matter of time" before "one of these guns kills some innocent," the purchaser would have to have a clean record, (believe it or not, those who use guns in crimes steal them or purchase them illegally) If such a gun-runner was going to purchase firearms to sell illegally, do you think he/she would go through the trouble of spending $10k+ on a car just to get one small pistol, and leave the trail of paperwork that a background check creates?
Second of all, the problem, to paraphrase #2 in Austin Powers, is that there is no 'world' anymore, there's just the corporations. Economy has supply and demand. Our politicians sold our country out decades ago, creating a "Global Economy" where the poor of the world supply and America's middle class buy. NAFTA was just the final nail in the coffin.
I know some are going to roll their eyes at this post, but if it weren't the case and our politicians were actually for the people, our public education system wouldn't be the lowest in the industrialized world, college would be affordable, our manufacturing and support jobs wouldn't have gone overseas, a blind eye wouldn't be turned to illegal immigration (please read that world "illegal" again before you flame) so a slave class could be created and the minimum wage and labor unions could be circumvented, our nation would use our nations own oil reserves and research ethanol to remove our dependency on foreign oil and the devastation its done to our economy... the list goes on and on.