Does a loophole in one state equal a murder in another?

Mayor of New York Michael Bloomburg thinks that gun laws are not enforced uniformly between states and because of that, crimes involving illegally trafficked guns are on the rise across the country. He believes that specific states being irresponsible with lackluster gun laws (Mississippi, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alaska, Alabama, South Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, Nevada and Georgia) are the cause of deadly crimes throughout the whole country and not just in their own state. This is the point at which their individual gun laws become a national issue.

Read his opinion here

Mayor Bloomburg obviously feels very strongly about this issue as he is the chair of the organization "Mayors against illegal guns." This organization is where all of the information in the article comes from. He references a report issued by his organization in which a correlation is determined between laws that impair illegal gun trafficking and lower gun murder rates.

The fact that Bloomburg gets his information from one organization of which he is a member and states only one statistic in his favor is probably the weakest aspect of his opinion article. As well, none of his evidence supports the fact that illegal gun trafficking in one state is spreading to other states that have stricter laws. While we know what states have weak anti-traffic laws, it is near impossible to track an illegal gun to the state it was trafficked from.

I appreciate Bloomburg's fight and ideas, but I think he needs to develop a more solid argument to support the claims he makes before he starts putting the burden of murders involving illegal guns on only ten states of our fifty.

It would seem to me that Bloomburg would be most in favor of federal control of laws controlling illegal gun trafficking. I think that is the only way that we would be able to ensure that a solid plan that leaves no state left to blame could be in place. However, even if there were a strict federal law, I don't think the murder rate involving illegal guns will decrease by much. Overall, people will find a way to get their guns and will work around the law. At the same time, even if it were a federal requirement to have stronger gun control laws, the enforcement of such laws would vary between states. I really see no way how editing this law could make a huge impact on he stats used by Bloomburg in his article.