“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Not.
It took just $70 for a young person to buy a .32-caliber revolver from “some guy” at a Portsmouth gym. In Suffolk, gang members share handguns hidden under bushes and beneath houses, taking them and returning them like spare pennies at a convenience store.
Weapons pilfered by teens and adults from homes in neighboring Gates County, N.C., last year filtered back to southeastern Virginia within months on the black market.
In Virginia, it’s against the law for anyone under 18 to buy a gun or to possess a handgun or “assault” firearm in public unless they’re hunting or carrying out duties in the armed forces. It’s also illegal for juveniles to possess any gun on school property, unless it’s an unloaded rifle or shotgun that’s in a closed case or on a vehicle’s firearms rack.
But authorities say guns are widely available to youngsters. That has turned teenage disputes into crime scenes time and time again, and has ratcheted up the violence in felonies committed by juveniles – particularly robberies.
And, in other news, the National Rifle Association opposes efforts to require legitimate gun owners to report when guns are stolen.
