Some women will do anything for their man – even illegally buy guns, despite the potential 10-year prison sentence, reports the Cincinnati Enquirer. Three women, including one who was pregnant, have been convicted in the last year of illegally buying 50 guns that they gave to boyfriends or acquaintances. Some of those weapons turned up at crime scenes here. Others surfaced in Maryland, Virginia, and Massachusetts. “A person who knows they cannot buy a gun, but wants one anyway – a clean gun, a gun with no history – will utilize somebody with no criminal record,” said Karl Kadon, a special assistant U.S. attorney. Men often coerce girlfriends or other women in their lives to buy the guns. Kadon is one of two prosecutors with Project Disarm, a local program aimed at getting illegal guns off the streets.
Federal firearms prosecutions increased 76 percent between fiscal year 2000 and fiscal year 2004. The U.S. Department of Justice filed 11,067 federal firearms cases in fiscal year 2004, the highest number ever. Those charged are being sentenced to heavy time behind bars. In fiscal year 2004, 93 percent of those charged went to prison. Seventy-three percent got sentences of more than three years.
Link: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060216/NEWS01/602160405