Buried in a Wednesday story about a California gun store burglary is a stunning admission by law enforcement authorities that tends to add more meaninglessness to new gun control laws.
Recent gun store burglaries in the Sacramento area, said one source quoted by the Sacramento Bee, are part of a “growing trend.” More than 200 firearms have been stolen in that area alone over the past few months.
Another official with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told the newspaper that California’s strict gun laws are pushing criminal organizations to theft, or going to other states to obtain firearms.
Long story short: Criminals will get their hands on firearms no matter what restrictions are placed on law-abiding citizens.
That’s where people like anti-gun Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) don’t get it. According to Thursday’s New York Daily News, he is launching a new gun control effort called the Fund to End Gun Violence. According to the newspaper:
The organization plans to roll out endorsements in the next few weeks of candidates who support passing bills to create universal background checks, bar suspected terrorists on the “no fly” list from buying guns, and lift the federal prohibition on funding for gun violence research at the Centers for Disease Control.”
Some critics suggest that it is merely more of the same from the gun prohibition lobby: Rhetoric designed to convince the public that “something is being done” about violent crime when the reality is entirely different.
Politico frames the new Fund group for what it is: “A new fundraising initiative aimed at raising cash for congressional candidates who pledge to make gun control a marquee priority.”
Murphy is joined in this fund raising by other anti-gun lawmakers including Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Reps. Katherine Clark (D-MA) and Robin Kelly (D-IL). The story identified Kelly as “a vocal gun control advocate.”
While they push an agenda for so-called “universal background checks,” criminals like the ones in California will continue avoiding such red tape formalities by stealing firearms and selling them illegally.