“Investigators say a man who fatally shot a Colorado sheriff’s deputy and wounded two others trying to serve an eviction notice used a rifle he legally purchased four years ago,” the AP reports. “The Colorado Bureau of Investigation said Friday that Martin Wirth [above] bought the .45-caliber rifle from a private seller in February 2012. Authorities say the 58-year-old killed Cpl. Nate Carrigan and injured two other officers Wednesday at his foreclosed home near Bailey, about 45 miles west of Denver.” I’m thinking Hi-Point. I’m also thinking . . .
no matter where a “crime gun” came from, gun control advocates can’t lose. If the gun was purchased legally, they say “See? Anyone can become a killer! We need to tighten background checks!” If the gun was purchased illegally, they say “See? The background check system isn’t good enough! We need to tighten background checks!”
In case you’d forgotten, “tightening background checks” is code for prohibition. Anyway, if you really press a gun control advocate on background check failure top prevent crime (e.g., Chicago), they remain undaunted. “If a background check saves one life, it’s worth it!”
Not true. Unconstitutional gun control laws (which is all of them) create barriers to gun ownership that prevents people from exercising their gun rights (especially lower income Americans). Lives are lost as a result.
Clear thinking people balance the number of lives “saved” by background checks (a number as difficult to assess as “jobs saved” by the now-forgotten $787b Stimulus Package) with the number of lives lost because people were disarmed ahead of a violent attack (equally unfathomable).
[Note: for the sake of argument, we’ll ignore the millions of lives saved because armed Americans forestal a fascist dictatorship.]
Actually, you know what? Forget it. Given that the right to keep and bear arms is protected by the Second Amendment, that right is not subject to arguments about social utility. So, once again, let’s just condemn the killer and be done with it. And continue the fight to protect our firearms freedom.