“Two of the 15 gun dealers targeted by the mayor’s sting operations have, however, accepted settlement deals with the city that mandate a special monitor audit their stores for the next three years, which was one of the goals the mayor pointed to when he announced the federal lawsuits.

The mayor’s criminal justice coordinator, John Feinblatt, said in a statement: “These historic settlements are unprecedented. We expect that the others will follow the example of the two Georgia dealers, who willingly came to the table to negotiate a fair settlement that keeps them in business, keeps illegal guns off the street, and keeps them on the right side of the law.””

Second amendment rights aside, this passage from the article makes the mayor’s gun policy look like just a proxy for getting into gun shops and monitoring sales and customers. Conduct a sting operation, threaten the shop owner with stringent penalties, and then make nice and settle by having the owner agree to let the police to monitor his business? Hmm.

A gun is just a tool, no more no less. It is how the tool is used, that is the problem. Any tool can be misused. If the dealers are violating the law that is the dealer’s problem, not the manufacturer. Should we sue Ford when someone runs a person over during an arguement? How about the dealer who sold the car? I’ve always wondered why everybody picks on the gun manufacturers? With out ammunition a gun is just a paperweight. I can fire a bullet without a gun, but I can’t fire a gun without a bullet.