Man found with stolen gun days after weapons conviction (or "Why gun control laws are entirely impotent")

by Chad D. Baus

WHIO (CBS Dayton) is reporting that a Dayton man, who was convicted on Tuesday, February 21 of carrying a concealed weapon without a license, was caught carrying a stolen gun just five days later.

From the article:

According to a Dayton Police arrest report, Mark A. Hinton, Jr., 25, was detained by security officers at Good Samaritan Hospital Sunday evening for drinking in the parking lot.

The officers reported seeing Hinton sitting in the driver's seat of a parked Toyota Corolla in the emergency room parking lot drinking from a 40-ounce bottle of malt liquor. A male passenger was drinking from a 20-ounce can of malt liquor. The keys were in the ignition of the car.

Officers performed a pat down on Hinton after he revealed that he did not have a driver's license. They found a loaded .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun tucked into his waistband. He was also in possession of 5.6 grams of marijuana, according to the report.

Dayton Police were called to the scene and discovered that the gun was reported stolen from Miamisburg in January.
When officers told Hinton he would be charged with receiving stolen property he asked how that could be because he "got that gun form the streets," the report states.

The article states that Hinton was convicted of one count of carrying a concealed weapon on Feb. 21 and sentenced to 5 years probation. That charge came after an arrest Dec. 8. He is now charged with another count of carrying a concealed weapon, in addition to one count of improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle. He was also issued a minor misdemeanor for drug possession and a citation for having an open container in a vehicle. A receiving stolen property charge was dismissed by detectives.

All the gun control laws and all the "no-guns" signs in the world will not stop a criminal who is intent on obtaining and carrying a gun.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Vice Chairman.