Maybe time really is a flat circle, because here we are again. Another broken kid — who had raised red flags and alarmed everyone around him — got his hands on a gun and opened fire in his school, killing and wounding people that his sad, damaged psyche had concluded had somehow wronged him.
As if on cue, all of the same familiar faces took the opportunity to blame gun rights supporters — including, of course the NRA — and claim that the Oxford High School shooting is the latest evidence that America needs more gun control laws to stop horrors such as these from happening.
“Americans are sick and tired of living in a country where gun violence is a reality.” As parents mourn the victims of the Oxford High School shooting, @KrisB_Brown talks to @KatyTurNBC about gun control legislation in the US. pic.twitter.com/0cgvEKCiYN
— Katy Tur Reports (@KatyOnMSNBC) December 1, 2021
Fuck you @NRA. Fuck you @NRA and every spineless pro-gun pol for putting our kids and our country through this nightmare alternate universe. Fuck you @NRA for putting us here and fighting with every last breath in your body to keep us here. Fuck you @NRA. https://t.co/qgT4eIlf51
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) December 1, 2021
It’s obvious, right? All we need are more laws passed by more courageous legislators to keep the Adam Lanzas, Nikolas Cruzes and Ethan Crumbleys of the world from doing the terrible things that they do. Then we can all sleep soundly.
That is, of course, a lie.
It’s a lie because everything those three shooters and the other deranged psychopaths before them did was already in direct contravention of dozens of laws that have been on the books for decades. As he’s the most recent, let’s count some of the laws that young Master Crumbley totally disregarded when he opened fire.
Assuming he didn’t have permission to take it that day, Crumbley stole his father’s newly-purchased gun. The 15-year-old then took it to school, breaking Michigan’s illegal possession and concealed carry laws. As soon as he got to Oxford High School, he then broke the federal Gun-Free School Zones law.
Crumbley has since been charged with a couple of dozen counts of other crimes including four counts of murder, assault with intent to commit murder, possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and terrorism.
Praying for everyone at Oxford High School and the families of the victims.
When will lawmakers finally put our children’s safety ahead of the NRA?
We NEED gun control. NOW. https://t.co/3x7GsUwNWy
— Muad for Congress (@muadhrezi) November 30, 2021
So if those of us on the side of gun rights roll our eyes at the avalanche of all-too-predictable calls for MORE GUN CONTROL after a school shooting such as this, it’s because not only have we heard it all before, but because all of the laws ostensibly needed to “prevent” these things from happening are already on the books. And they have been for years.
Literally none of the additional laws that the usual suspects call for after a shooting like the one in Michigan would have done anything to prevent it. Not universal background checks, not banning “ghost guns,” not “red flag” laws, or regulating pistol braces our of existence.
Somehow, though, all of the myriad laws that are already in place don’t seem to stop murderous, determined little bastards from doing what their unhinged minds tell them they’re justified in doing. There’s literally no reason to expect passing more laws would do anything to stop another Ethan Crumbley in the future.
And the fact that there are already dozens of laws in place that prohibit what happened in Michigan never seems to matter much to those who dance in the victims’ blood and use these high profile shootings to further their anti-gun rights agendas.
