Well, it’s happened again. Twice. Crazy/evil men with guns, killing and wounding innocent people, just for the hell of it. This time in El Paso, Texas. And just up the road from our community, in Dayton.
Then the usual calls for more gun control – we have to pass legislation to end the so-called gun show loophole. Except that very few guns purchased at a gun show are ever used in the commission of any crime (less than 1% of guns used in crimes were purchased at a gun show.) And the vast majority of guns that are purchased in America have been done so with the proper background check taking place.
The one area where improvement really must take place is that criminals acquire their firearms half of the time through so-called “straw man purchases.” Let me explain. Criminals typically are ineligible to legally purchase a weapon, because, well because they are criminals. The background check would reveal that they have a criminal record. So the gun store clerk would not sell them the gun. So what criminals do is have someone else (without a criminal record) buy the gun for them. Or they break into someone’s home and steal a gun (or guns) or they purchase the weapon illegally from another criminal, with obviously no background check taking place.
Another area for improvement, I believe, is President Trump’s suggestion that the Justice Department work closely with social media companies to identify potential mass shooters by their often incendiary comments made online. If they make threatening comments there, let’s grab them before they have a chance to hurt anyone.
One of the main reasons I haven’t supported additional gun control proposals in the past, or the one that Democrats in Congress proposed this year, is that, in my opinion, they won’t do a thing to make us any safer. They won’t stop criminals from being criminals, and getting ahold of weapons outside the law. And the only people who will be inconvenienced by these laws are law abiding people, who aren’t a threat to anyone (other than to a criminal who might be breaking into their house.)
That’s not to say that there’s never legislative action which could make us safer. For example, after the Parkland shooting in Florida, a little over a year ago, I, along with Congressman John Rutherford of Florida, offered legislation which passed the House, the Senate, and was signed into law by President Trump. This new law allows local school districts to apply for federal dollars to cover the cost of metal detectors at school entrances, additional armed school resource officers (who can be retired police officers), training for school personnel on how to best handle active shooter situations, and perhaps most importantly, how to identify and deal with students who may be a threat to their fellow students, teachers, or staff. This legislation, may not prevent every school shooting in America, but it’s an important step in the right direction.
One thing that I guess was completely predictable after the most recent shootings, was the knee-jerk reaction by a number of the Democratic candidates for President, to blame President Trump. It was Trump’s fault because the El Paso shooter targeted immigrants, and President Trump is for border security, therefore it’s Trump’s fault. That has about as much validity as holding the Democrat candidates for president responsible, since they are all committed environmentalists, and so was the shooter (rabidly so.) So was the Unabomber, Theodore Kaczynski. And the guy who shot up Republican Congressmen (including Steve Scalise) on that baseball field last year, was a Bernie Sanders supporter. That doesn’t mean Bernie is in any way responsible. The shooter was just evil, or crazy, or both. He was responsible, not Bernie, and not Donald Trump.
The Left has been trying to blame President Trump and conservatives somehow for the Dayton shooting as well. But it’s now been learned that the Dayton shooter was apparently a fan of Elizabeth Warren and Antifa (the radical left-wing thuggish group.) This obviously doesn’t mean Elizabeth Warren is in any way responsible for the shooter’s actions.
Finally, I thought Cincinnati Enquirer columnist Kevin Aldridge had it just about right in his Monday column. You can read it by clicking here.
See you next week.