Ease Of Obtaining Guns Alarms New York Council

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28573, 30 April 1958, Page 19

Ease Of Obtaining Guns Alarms New York Council

i From a Reuter Correspondent)

NEW YORK. The New York City Council, larmed W the B rowing numbers / armed criminals and juvenile HeliMuents in the city, is seri- “ examining the ease with Xdi criminal elements can obtain lethal weapons CTe chief aim of the inquiry wl q be to make recommendations for new State or local legislation which wili tighten up present Government controls over the sale and of firearms and other Cancerous weapons. A special committee had already been formed, under the chairmanship of Mr David Ross, a member of -the council, and mHuding the Police Commissioner, stephen Kennedy, the five borough District Attorneys, the Chief Magistrate, and a number of city Judges, to frame new legislative proposals. The first items they consider will be OT cartridges and gravity knives—the kind of knives known in Britain as flick knives, whose concealed blades are shot out with a flick of the wrist Mr Ross intends to press ahead swiftly with such local legislation as is needed, and hopes that the State Legislature will have some proposals to work on in the present session. But he said recently, “if we cannot get State action on this kind of legislation, we should pass it ourselves, and let the Courts worry about the constitutionality later.” . A police spokesman acknowledged that there is a serious problem, especially in the fields which the committee will study first Gravity knives, he explained, are still sold freely in spite of police warnings; and 22 ammunition, which is the kind used in most sporting rifles, can also be obtained easily. Tta cnnVocman o-vnlninpri that

the sale of firearms is governe„ by the Sullivan Act, which requires registration of all purchasers and users, under a penalty for failing to comply with the regulations. Requirements for a firearms permit are fairly stringent. The applicant must be over 21 years of age, must be able to show that he has need of arms in his busi-ness-managers of jewellery stores, for instance, would have no difficulty in obtaining a gun—and must be able to furnish affidavits to support his claims, and to attest to bls character and absence of police record But too many guns are still passing into unauthorised bands fO/there to be any complacency about the efficacy of the Sullivan Act control. What is particularly difficult to stop is the resale or lending of properly authorised

guns to persons with - criminal intent. An even more alarming aspect of Government control; or the lack of it, over dangerous firearms, was revealed in an article which appeared in the “Saturday Evening Post.’’ The author of the article, Mr Ashley Halsey, one of the magazine's editors, described how he had been able to purchase, by mail, a “deactivated” war surplus sub-machine-gun and had subsequently been able to turn it into a lethal weapon with a minimum of effort and without the knowledge of the authorities. Mr Halsey said that he had sent for the machine-gun, which was advertised in a gun magazine, in the name of his two-year-old daughter, so that there would be an obvious case of selling to under-age purchasers, as well as to someone completely without authorisation. The gun had duly arrived, by ordinary parcel post—war surplus “souvenir” revolvers and automatics have to be sent by express, and only after a sworn statement of age and responsibility. Mr Halsey said that the chamber was welded, and the barrel was welded to the frame, making it, according to the Internal Revenue Service of the United States Treasury, which administers American firearms laws, “permanently unserviceable.” But, undeterred, he had sent to : another dealer for a replacement, i barrel, which also came through the mails. After about an hour’s work, Mr Halsey, who admitted • that he was no handyman, had ! replaced the barrel, and the gun i was in perfect wprking order, as ■ he subsequently proved on a range. Mr Halsey was careful to point ! out that at no time in his nego- • tiations were his credentials i checked, or his name even re- ; corded. Officially, his two-year-old daughter is now the owner of t a working sub-machine-gun. I There is a fine of 2000 dollars . for the possession of an unregis- - tered working machine-gun, imr posed under the National Fire- . arms Act in 1934, when gangsterism had run riot for years with - such guns. There is also a tax on - the resale, of 200 dollars a time, t But there, are penalties after t the event, and as’ Mr Halsey - stressed in his article, young i, criminals who often fashion from - pipes crude guns to shoot 22 carti ridges would be unlikely to balk s at the risks. t Many such war surplus weapons f and souvenirs—German and Japanese revolvers are particularly 1 popular—were brought back after s World War 11. and the majority jr certainly remain unused. □ But the possibility of them fally ing into the wrong hands is r always a source of worry to the i New York Polite Department.