Evening star., 1933-02-12
Menace of Crime
Can Only Be Fought
By Aroused Opinion
Continued From First Page.)

Continued From F1rSt Page.)
clear-cut as to form an ideal example:
Modefn gangs of criminals, which are
now interstate in organization and
which are becoming bolder and bolder
every day, owe much of their success
and their ability to terrorize COM
munity through the use of the machine
gun. The spray of bullets which these
guns throw make the death OF the in
tended victim almost certain, and II
more or less bystanders are killed at
the same time it only adds to the terror
and apparently does not trouble the
conscience of the gangster at all.
1t would be difficult, if not impossi-
BILE, for an automobile to slip up beside
the victim and shoot him down by in
dividual shots from revolvers OF its
occupants. The revolver is a tricky
weapon, and in the hands of gang
ster-who very often is not only nerV-
Gus, but drug as well-it is a
most uncertain instrument. But it IS
as hard to miss with a machine gun
as it is hard to hit with revolver.
Now all this is well known and there
is not a police chief in the country
who has not urged that the manufac-
ture and sale of machine guns be en-
tirely prohibited by law They are de-
signed for armies not individuals. NO
one would think of taking machine
gun when he went hunting deer or
rabbits or ducks. They cannot be car
ried by citizen seeking to protect his
life. A man who buys machine gun
buys it for the purpose of murder and
no other purpoSe-and yet every ef1ort
to suppress the manufacture OF ma
chine guns has failed. The country
would save many millions of dollars II
| the Government would close all such
factories and pay whatever just dam
ages were determined by the courts.
At one time the Crime Commission
was in negotiation with the Army with
the idea of securing by cooperation
national legislation restricting manu-
facture and possession of machine guns
to the Army and providing heavy penal
| ties of 10 to 20 years for the private
possession of this terrible weapon. AT
| first the Army was in favor OF such
action, and the objection that these
guns were needed by the guardians OF
banks was met by the proposal that the
Army could loan, under strict inspection
and constant regulation, Hachine guns
to banks and armored car companies.
But in spite of this, the same fatal
indifference which has overtaken every
| OtiiCi cSiAOuS SiIOAG bllS1itCN bAiao PASAAA
Using start toward getting action.
Machine guns are now manufactured
in large quantities and always have
ready sale. So long rs manufacturers
are allowed to make them they will con-
tinue to be obtained-and used! Per-
haps in the hysterical wake following
some new murder of helpless and in
nocent children in some citys crowded
streets, as happened in New York not
very long ago, the machine gun may be
really eliminated That Is, If the
public can really be aroused to care
about it.
Another sample of this unwillingness
of the average, citizen to take any per-
sonal interest in crime activity is illus
trated by the efforts of the commission
in regard to the sale of stolen property.
Before the profitable business of the
racketeer became the favorite speciality
in criminal circles, the most serious
nationally organized criminal gangs
were engaged in the theft and sale OF
textiles and other easily marketable
goods on a wholesale scale. The or
ganization was, and Is, truly national
It has to be. It Is not safe to sell
stolen goods IN wholesale quantities