The logic is faulty

I would like to comment with regard to the Hoosier Editorial seen in The CR on Friday, Oct. 15, entitled “Time now to close loophole” written as “Our Opinion” by the South Bend Tribune.  
First off let me say that I find the logic behind this editorial to be severely flawed and the conclusions ridiculous. Merely reading through it makes one wonder if the author has, at some point, been relieved of his/her means of cognizant reasoning.
The first bit of info that the South Bend Tribune presents to us is that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives traced more than 145,000 guns used in crimes in 2009 and found that more than 43,000 had been sold outside of the state in which the shooting took place.  Nearly half of those 43,000 were sold in a 10-state group that includes Indiana.  The South Bend Tribune then goes on to attribute those “exported guns” to a so-called “gun show loophole” which allows private sellers (non-dealers) to sell a firearm without requiring a background check from the buyer.  
Here is where I start to see a problem. The South Bend Tribune shows no evidence that some or any of the 43,000 firearms were sold between private sellers. The fact that the 43,000 guns were traceable back to an out-of-state sale indicates that they were originally sold (of course) by a licensed dealer, who generated the paperwork necessary to trace them and also would have required a background check at the time of purchase.  There is no mention of how many of these firearms were then transported across state lines by the original owners or how many were stolen.  To assume that a majority of these firearms were sold between private sellers is highly irresponsible reporting.  The editorial also fails to mention that one of the other 9 states in the group is none other than California. It is no secret that California has some of the most stringent gun control laws in the country.  Is the lack of a background check or not enough gun control really the problem here?
The fact of the matter is that the “loophole” they speak of isn’t a loophole at all.  There is intentional room in the law for private sellers to be able to buy and sell firearms between each other without having to wade through miles of red tape.  Imagine if all things you bought “used” were required to be purchased through a dealer.  Used car: dealer.  Used furniture: dealer. Used power tools: dealer.  The only thing that would change is the price to include the dealer markup on every transaction.  Not to mention the ruin of our beloved radio show the Second Hand Store.
The editorial seems to take on a strong anti-gun sentiment as it goes on to state that the United States is a leader in gun violence and that more than 100,000 Americans are shot or killed with a gun in an average year.  A seemingly impressive statistic until you consider that there are more than 200 million guns owned by private Americans citizens.   For those of you not next to a calculator, the number of guns not used in crimes per year is more that 99.95 percent.
 It seems to me that this South Bend Tribune editorial, like much of the liberal media, tends to focus on the object used in the crime rather than the criminal or the crime itself.  Is it not people who are committing these acts?  A gun is nothing more than a tool.  Used for recreation, protection and unfortunately sometimes crime.  Is the tool really the problem or should we perhaps focus on the person committing the crime?
I believe Ted Nugent spoke for me and the rest of the law-abiding gun owners when he said, “If guns cause crime, all of mine are defective.”
Sincerely,
Dustin Bantz
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