The following letter was published in the February 20, 2003 edition of The Belleville Times.

In Senator Corzine's letter to the editor of Jan.2, 2003 he stated that "nearly half of the guns purchased at gun shows are sold without background checks". 

He also declared"...but what can we do when 80% of the guns used by criminals in New Jersey are purchased outside the state". According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics report "Firearms Use by Offenders," the overwhelming majority of firearms used in crimes come from either the perpetrator's friends and family or from illegal sources. The report is based on data collected from personal interviews with 18,000 prison inmates.

Conducted by the Clinton-Reno Department of Justice (no friends of the Second Amendment), it is the largest study of its kind sponsored by the federal government. Researchers found that inmates serving time in state prisons said they obtained their guns from the following sources:

Friends or family, 39.6 percent. On the street/illegal source, 39.2 percent. A retail store, 8.3 percent. A pawnshop, 3.8 percent. A flea market, 1.0 percent. At a gun show, 0.7 percent.

Under existing federal law, firearms dealers are required to obtain National Instant Criminal Background Check System approval prior to sales at a gun show. Gun show promoters and attendees are delighted that the Justice Department has essentially confirmed what gun collectors have been maintaining for years. Read the Bureau of Justice Statistics report "Firearms Use by Offenders" at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/fuo.pdf. 

Furthermore, the Senator stated that "Guns remain the second-leading cause of injury-related deaths in the United States.

 The National Safety Council lists the following stats: Leading Causes of Unintentional Injury Deaths United States, 2001 Motor Vehicle 42,900 Poisoning 14,500 Falls 14,200 Suffocation by Inhalation or Ingestion 4,200 Fires, Flames and Smoke 3,900 Firearms incidents don't even figure into this table.

Those citizens of Belleville and New Jersey who voted for Senator Corzine are entitled to a Senator who knows his facts. Senator Corzine should not leave matters he deems important to junior staff or to members of Handgun Control to write his editorials.

J.M.Furno

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