Reply #110: It does, actually: 18 USC 922 (d)

[Euromutt]

It shall be unlawful for any person to sell or otherwise dispose of any firearm or ammunition to any person knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that such person—
(1) is under indictment for, or has been convicted in any court of, a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year;
(2) is a fugitive from justice;
(3) is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802));
(4) has been adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to any mental institution;
(5) who, being an alien—
(A) is illegally or unlawfully in the United States; or
(B) except as provided in subsection (y)(2), has been admitted to the United States under a nonimmigrant visa (as that term is defined in section 101(a)(26) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 (a)(26)));
(6) who <2> has been discharged from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions;
(7) who, having been a citizen of the United States, has renounced his citizenship;
(8) is subject to a court order that restrains such person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner of such person or child of such intimate partner or person, or engaging in other conduct that would place an intimate partner in reasonable fear of bodily injury to the partner or child, except that this paragraph shall only apply to a court order that—
(A) was issued after a hearing of which such person received actual notice, and at which such person had the opportunity to participate; and
(B)
(i) includes a finding that such person represents a credible threat to the physical safety of such intimate partner or child; or
(ii) by its terms explicitly prohibits the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against such intimate partner or child that would reasonably be expected to cause bodily injury; or
(9) has been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.
This subsection shall not apply with respect to the sale or disposition of a firearm or ammunition to a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, licensed dealer, or licensed collector who pursuant to subsection (b) of section 925 of this chapter is not precluded from dealing in firearms or ammunition, or to a person who has been granted relief from disabilities pursuant to subsection (c) of section 925 of this chapter.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00000922----000-.html

So it is not "perfectly legal for you to sale {sic} your gun to someone without the legal right to carry a firearm" (to quote your blog entry). On the one occasion I have purchased a firearm (a Soviet m1895 Nagant revolver made in 1933) from a private seller, the seller would not sell it to me unless I could show him a valid state-issued resident Concealed Pistol License in order to assure himself that he would not be breaking Washington state and federal law by selling it me, and in the event that I ever decided to sell any of my guns (including long guns), I would make the same request of the buyer.

Similarly, when you claim that:

The Mexican drug wars are spilling their violence in the U.S., using guns legally purchased here in America by straw purchasers hard up on their luck.

(emphasis mine) you ignore the fact that "straw purchasing" is by definition not legal; doing so requires lying in response to question 12.a. on the ATF form 4473:

Are you the actual buyer of the firearm(s) listed on this form? Warning: You are not the actual buyer if you are acquiring the firearm(s) on behalf of another person. If you are not the actual buyer, the dealer cannot transfer the firearm(s) to you.

(bolding original)
Stating that you are the actual buyer when you are in fact a straw purchaser is a federal felony.

So I'm frankly unimpressed by your lack of research before making assertions (and that's leaving aside the fact that the overwhelming majority of narcotraficantes' guns--and all of their military-grade hardware--do not come from the US private market). You rather appear to have been so enamored of the soundbite you cooked up ("Illegal 'possession' is meaningless without illegal 'acquisition'.") that you neglected to verify whether it was actually true.

Also from your blog entry:

For every 10 people in this country, there is a gun for 9 of them. Maybe I’m just traveling in the wrong circles, but it seems to me that more than 10 % of the people in this country are under 18, mentally ill, or a convicted felon.

I don't know a single person who owns one firearm; every gun owner I know owns at least four, and I own nine myself. So gun ownership is not distributed evenly across the population, as you disingenuously imply. I say disingenuously because you state that "My husband and I own guns, both for self defense and sport," which sounds to me like you each own more than one firearm yourselves.

While I sympathize with many of the sentiments expressed in your blog entry, it is so riddled with factual inaccuracies that it loses much of any persuasive argument it has.

Oh yes, it's "martial law", not "Marshal(l) law."