Smugglers have become increasingly sophisticated in recent years, gaining access to expensive equipment and using some rather impressive tactics. This is yet another reason that gun bans simply won’t work:
For the second time in less than a week, the U.S. Coast Guard said Friday that it had fished out of the sea a semi-submersible vessel packed full of cocaine. Seven tons of cocaine with a street value of $196 million were confiscated.
[Note: In this case, the smugglers were indeed caught, but remember that the truly successful criminals are the ones that are never caught, so we don’t even know the extent of their smuggling].
The fact that smugglers were able to construct (at least) 2 submarines and fill them with a combined total of nearly $400,000,000 (yes, that is $400 MILLION dollars) worth of cocaine should show that criminals who want to smuggle items into the USA can do so. Even a country such as the UK, which is much smaller and surrounded by water, cannot stop smugglers. Given the extensive land boarders and long coastal areas, it would be virtually impossible to stop determined smugglers from entering the USA with their contraband.A cursory review of history also shows that when there is a demand for an item that has been outlawed, criminals can make a fortune by supplying this item to those who want it. The Chicago gangsters made money hand over fist selling bootleg alcohol during prohibition, just as drug dealers make a fortune selling illegal drugs today. Other criminals currently make their money smuggling machine guns or supplying gangs with guns.
Sadly, some anti gun groups work tirelessly trying to prevent law abiding citizens from having guns, on the theory that doing so will somehow stop criminals from having guns. The reality of the situation is that even if every gun store were shut down tomorrow, criminals who want guns would get them, just as illegal drug users who want their illegal drugs get them. Whether the criminals stole guns from the police, or bought them on the black market from todays rather sophisticated smugglers, criminals would still be armed – leaving law abiding citizens at a disadvantage.