Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
What the supposed idea behind gun control is that it will take guns out of the hands of bad people. If gun control activists are to be believed–and I don’t believe them–the perfect gun control scheme would make it physically impossible for any bad person to ever get a gun of any kind while law-abiding citizens could own pretty much whatever they wanted.
Now the one thing both sides can agree on is that such a scheme is completely impossible. It’s never going to happen.
One of the reasons why is that criminals are criminals. They break laws all the time. If they can’t buy a gun, they’ll just steal one. In fact, that’s what a lot of them do.
Hundreds of guns are being stolen across Virginia, and Lynchburg Police Officer John Pavia says it’s not getting better.
“There’s been a problem and the trends been going up and the larceny from auto theft has only been on the rise,” said Pavia.
We investigated and just so far this year:
Jones says they’re seeing stolen guns used in crimes, and some of the guns are from as far as 100 miles away.
“Guns will make their way around and unfortunately they are a very highly desired commodity in the criminal equation. If you can purchase one illegally people are going to do it,” said Jones.
I know, I know. You’re shocked to learn that people steal guns, am I right?
This isn’t really news in and of itself. It’s simply restating an already established fact. Criminals are, by definition, criminals. They steal things all the time. Even those who have no interest in hurting someone else are still going to steal things. The primary purpose of stealing something is to profit from it. With guns, you either profit from it by using it for other crimes or you sell it to someone else who will use it for other crimes.
This isn’t rocket science.
Yet guess who remains untouched by gun control laws? That’s right, criminals.
Of those nearly 150 guns listed above, how many of the people currently in possession of them underwent a background check? How many of them are going to follow safe-storage laws or anything of the type? How many will comply with a mandatory buyback or will turn in a higher-capacity magazine if the government were to order such a thing?
None of them. Not a damn one.
We all know this. Anti-gunners and pro-gunners alike know this.
So why do we keep having these arguments? Why is it so damn imperative that we restrict lawful gun owners who have done nothing wrong because of the actions?
Anti-gunners will point out that criminals wouldn’t get these guns if law-abiding citizens didn’t have them in the first place, which maybe sort of fair. However, that’s also irrelevant. Even if there was no way for citizens to have guns, criminals would still get them. They get them in every single country in the world despite their gun control laws.
Right now, they get them through theft. That doesn’t mean it’s the only way for them to get them.
Here’s a thought, though. Rather than trying to disarm the very people who did nothing wrong in the first place, why not try and come up with some policy ideas that…oh, I don’t know…actually go after the criminals?
Just a wild thought, but what do you think?
Tom Knighton is a Navy veteran, a former newspaperman, a novelist, and a blogger and lifetime shooter. He lives with his family in Southwest Georgia. https://bearingarms.com/author/tomknighton/
https://bearingarms.com/tom-k/2019/08/29/shocker-stolen-guns-end-criminal-hands/