Another mass shooting, and now another call for the national confiscation of guns. It comes from the same, tired, liberal playbook: Blame law-abiding gun owners for the crimes of a psychopath.
This time, it was a mass shooting in Maine. An Army reservist fatally shot 18 people at a bowling alley and restaurant in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday, October 25.
After an exhaustive manhunt, the suspect was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Friday, October 27.
This man should not have been allowed to legally own a firearm.
Family members told “federal investigators that he recently discussed hearing voices.” He had “been taken by police for an evaluation after military officials became concerned that he was acting erratically in mid-July,” per the AP.
Maine has a “yellow flag” law, under which a family member may alert law enforcement that a person is a potential threat to himself or others. After which, the potentially mentally ill person would be evaluated and would have to be deemed a threat by a medical professional.
According to NBC News, the shooter’s family reached out to the police and his Army reserve base. He was forced to undergo psychiatric treatment, but no action was taken.
So, like the mass shootings in Buffalo and Dayton, Ohio, the murderers were known to law enforcement, but were allowed to roam freely, and were not prohibited from owning a firearm.
And let’s not forget the shooting at Michigan State University earlier this year. The shooter had been charged with illegally carrying a concealed weapon years before the massacre: “… a felony count that would have prevented him from being able to buy a gun if convicted,” per CNN.
But the case never went to trial. A plea deal, negotiated by George Soros-backed prosecutor Carol Siemon, allowed the man to plead guilty to a misdemeanor – “possession of a loaded firearm in or upon a vehicle.”
So, once again we have more evidence that gun laws are not being enforced, leading to mass shootings and calls for gun confiscation.
Right on cue, the Biden administration is calling for new bans on so-called assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
Our border and AI Czar, Kamala Harris, has been calling for a ban of so-called assault weapons ever since becoming vice president, claiming, “Congress needs to have the courage to act and renew the assault weapons ban. An assault weapon is designed to kill a lot of human beings quickly. There is no reason we have weapons of war on the streets of America. We need reasonable gun safety laws.”
Let’s review one more time.
First, can we simply enforce the gun laws that are on the books? What incremental law would have prevented the tragedy in Maine?
The data do not support the argument for more and more gun control. Only 12% of mass killings are “mass public shootings. Most mass killings are ‘familicides’ (murders of family members or intimate partners) and felony-related killings (robberies or gang-related ‘turf battles’),” according to the Heritage Foundation.
Let us look at the call to ban “AR-style” assault weapons to reduce mass shootings. According to research provided by the FBI to Pew Research, assault weapons are not the weapon of choice when it comes to gun-related crime. In 2020, handguns were involved in 59% of gun murders and non-negligent manslaughters. “Rifles – the category that includes guns sometimes referred to as “assault weapons” – were involved in 3% of firearm murders,” Pew Research reported. This means that approximately 408 people were killed by “assault weapons” in 2020. For comparison, more than 500 people are killed by hippopotamuses each year and more people die falling out of bed or from volcanic explosions each year than are killed by assault weapons.
Second, criminals, by definition, do not abide by the law — that’s what makes them criminals. Federal law requires a criminal background check for all firearm sales and transfers by licensed dealers. The challenge is that most criminals do not legally obtain their guns. A 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates reported that approximately 1 in 5 (21%) of all state and federal prisoners reported possessing or using a firearm when they committed the offense for which they were serving time. Of those prisoners, only 7% purchased the weapon under their own name from a licensed dealer. More than half of prisoners (56%) had stolen the weapon, found it at the scene of a crime, or obtained it off the street or from the underground market.
If the Biden regime wants to stop mass shootings, it needs to simply enact two common sense gun laws.
First, we must outlaw gun-free zones — areas where legal gun owners are prohibited from carrying a gun. Gun-free zones often include schools, stores, movie theaters, and bars/nightclubs. Criminals are emboldened to attack people in gun-free zones because they know they can kill with impunity until law enforcement arrives. Both the outlet mall in Texas and the Christian school in Nashville were gun-free zones. From 1988 through August 2019, more than “85 percent of Mass Public Shootings have occurred in gun-free zones,” according to the U.S. Concealed Carry Association. Allowing a good guy with a gun to stop a bad guy with a gun is simply smart legislation that will save lives.
Second, we must allow for universal recognition of concealed carry licenses. If a person is qualified to carry a concealed weapon in Illinois, she is certainly qualified to carry the same concealed weapon in Rhode Island or New York. We do not require a person to have a driver’s license for each state in which he or she drives. Why do we require someone who has passed all the background checks and completed all the requisite training to seek multiple licenses to carry a concealed weapon?
These common-sense gun laws will save lives. If the government is going to take action to reduce mass shootings, let them take action that will have a positive impact on the nation.
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The Daily Wire has a policy of not naming mass shooters to deprive them of undeserved notoriety.
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Jim Nelles is a Navy veteran and supply chain consultant based in Chicago. His articles have appeared in the Washington Examiner, Newsweek, Foxnews.com, and the Daily Wire. He has served as a chief procurement officer, chief supply chain officer, and chief operations officer for multiple companies.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.