Pirate's Cove

Obviously, in the wake of the Texas church shooting, Leftists (who often refuse to give up their own guns and/or their armed security) are again calling for lots and lots of gun control, right up to draconian restrictions and even a repeal of the 2nd Amendment. The Mercury News notes

It’s difficult to keep guns away from ex-cons and the mentally disturbed, but a one-of-a-kind California program is designed to do just that. And in light of the Texas church shooting that left 26 dead, some are debating whether a program like it could have thwarted Devin Kelley’s murderous rampage.

The Armed and Prohibited Persons System (APPS) program, proposed in 1999 and updated in 2006, makes California the first and only state in the country to establish an automated system for tracking firearm owners and to provide the legal authority to proactively disarm convicted criminals, people with certain mental illnesses, and others deemed dangerous.

There’s a few problems with this. First, criminals still get guns. Because they’re criminals. And felons are barred from firearm ownership by every state and the federal government. Who is deemed “dangerous”? That could very much be abused. And, as far as mental illness goes, who decides? And how do we do this when the government, the go to for everything per the Democrats, is incompetent? Stephen Miller lays it out

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. – who looks like a pining presidential candidate – was of course out front in a rush to the microphones. He demanded that we all do “something,” without ever actually disclosing what that something might be. Apparently, what he really wants is confiscation of firearms from law-abiding Americans, who are now once again facing media backlash for a crime they had nothing to do with.

But as was revealed Sunday, in what is becoming a common theme in these mass shootings, no amount of background checking would have stopped the shooter in Sutherland Springs, Texas from purchasing his firearms, because the federal government failed to do it’s job properly. It’s not the first time.

While serving in the U.S. Air Force, shooter Devin Patrick Kelley was convicted of domestic assault against his wife. He pleaded guilty to multiple charges stemming from incidents including physically striking his wife and choking and kicking her. He also pleaded guilty to assaulting his stepson, severely enough to crack the young child’s skull.

I’m sure you know the rest: none of this was reported into the FBI database. He escaped from a mental health facility, there was a lot of brouhaha, and this still never ended up in the database. Oh, and let’s not forget that Democrats filibustered legislation that would have potentially stopped Kelley.

Because of a law passed in 1996, it’s illegal for anyone convicted a domestic abuse crime to purchase a firearm, something some of our dutiful lawmakers in Congress seem to not be aware of.

Because Kelley’s court records were never submitted the FBI database, Kelley sailed through several background checks and purchased up to four known firearms. Great work, guys.

Miller goes on to describe many other failures of Government, such as with Dylann Roof and Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho, leading to

The National Rifle Association and lawful gun owners are not involved in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. During the shooting in Texas, a former NRA instructor was instrumental in stopping Kelley’s rampage – a rampage that could have been prevented had our government not been asleep at the wheel again. But sure, let’s turn over our health care to the government now.

If our government cannot perform simple tasks like filling our criminal record forms and entering information into databases, then why in the world would we burden federal employees with new gun laws that do nothing but restrict the constitutional rights of citizens and vendors in full compliance with the law?

The obvious answer here is to enforce the laws on the books, not create new ones that do not work. The “assault rifle” ban did not succeed. Limiting magazine size won’t work, because people will get bigger magazines elsewhere, or even make them. Government was provided with the laws necessary, and they fail. A law is only as good as it’s implementation and enforcement.

Read: The Problem Isn’t Gun Laws, It’s Government Incompetence »

The Washington Post’s Philip Bump thinks he’s found it, in what is supposed to be a straight news article, but goes down the opinion road

There’s only one surefire answer to the problem of mass shootings

(He goes through a lot of this and that and the other, blaming White men, not blaming White men (while refusing to acknowledge the mass shootings committed by Islamists, as well as Black in origin shootings), going on about mental health, violence towards women, and even notes that just 14 of 33 mass shootings were by White males. Leading to)

But the picture also suggests there isn’t necessarily a consistent pattern in the characteristics of a mass shooter. If the goal is to prevent future mass shootings, it’s tricky to see where to apply leverage. The only overwhelmingly common characteristic is that the perpetrators were men — but neither gender nor race could form the basis of a ban on gun ownership.

And Bump comes to the realization

In other words, the only surefire way to help prevent mass shootings — or any shootings — is to broadly limit access to guns in general. During the shooting in Sutherland Springs, Trump was in Japan. Last year, as many people died from gun violence in the entire country of Japan as died in the Texas shooting over the weekend (including Kelley). (snip)

Advocates for reducing gun violence, then, are left in an unfortunate position. There are often warning signs that can be addressed before a shooter decides to open fire, but there often aren’t. There are demographic factors that seem to recur — but not universally. The one consistent factor is that the shooter has access to a firearm, and that’s perhaps the one factor that has proven politically impossible to overcome.

Politically impossible, because we have a 2nd Amendment, unlike Japan (which Bump mentions). Regardless, it’s always about disarming Citizens with Leftists.

Read: There’s Only One Solution To Mass Shootings Or Something »