Death by waiting period

[StLGlocker]

Good morning ladies.

Last night, my brother and I were discussing gun issues and debating the effectiveness of waiting periods. This, in a nutshell, is his argument:

"Cooling off periods make sense. A cooling off period may be the only barrier between a woman and her abusive husband whose local restraining order doesn't show up on a computer check. A cooling off period will prevent crimes of passion."

I asked him to support that statement. His response was along the lines of "Well, I don't have concrete examples - in those situations, no one ends up getting hurt, so it goes unreported. But it makes sense to me."

I contend that waiting periods for handgun purchases have failed to reduce the crime rate, and I've got hard data to back it up. Some of the data even shows a slight increase, when crime rates are compared before and after a waiting period goes into effect. I am forced to conclude from this data that waiting periods are at best a worthless, feel-good measure implemented by politicians, showing their constituents that they are "doing something" about gun crime. At worst, they may actually contribute to deaths which otherwise would not have occurred.

What I would like to do is personalize my argument with a few examples of actual cases. Instances where a woman attempted to purchase a handgun, was forced to wait the required amount of time, and was raped, assaulted or murdered in that time by the person threatening her. I've found the example of Bonnie Elmasri at GOA's website. Does anyone know of others?

[dhoomonyou]

You might find some useful info on JPFO.org

[St3ve T]

I think if you file a complaint with the police that you are in fear of your life, you can legally purchase the gun without the waiting period.

[Amelia]

this "Cooling off periods make sense. A cooling off period may be the only barrier between a woman and her abusive husband whose local restraining order doesn't show up on a computer check. A cooling off period will prevent crimes of passion."

is actually a good argument against a cooling off period... what if the woman is buying the gun to protect herself from the abusive husband? she may be dead before the waiting period is up.

[Amelia]

Logically this "I contend that waiting periods for handgun purchases have failed to reduce the crime rate" must be true since the criminals aren't likely to buy a gun in the honest law abiding way, anyhow. Just us honest folk are going to do that, thus, it is not going to reduce crime and in fact it might make criminals bolder.

[Chuck TX]

The "law" in general be it waiting periods or other isn't going to apply to/stop a determined criminal. One doesn't have to be a member of MENSA to figure that out. Anybody who disregards laws can go downtown and buy a gun from the resident black market dealer at a fraction of the price it would cost them to get it legally. If someone is going to commit a crime where they'll be facing life or capital punishment, a weapons charge is insignificant.

Do they still have actual waiting periods anywhere? My compadre's that don't have CHL haven't had to wait, they just run the check there and then, and on with the sale.

[FireGuy]

Waiting periods only apply to purchase from dealers. So the logic involved in supporting a waiting period is bogus - just open the news papar and look for a gun from a private party...