From abcnews.com: “The FBI says its background-check system failed, mistakenly allowing the man who allegedly opened fire inside a South Carolina church last month to purchase the gun he used in the rampage. ‘We are all sick that this has happened,’ FBI Director James Comey told a small group of reporters in Washington today. ‘We wish we could turn back time.'” Roof should have been disqualified for admitting to drug possession. We’re sure it’s very comforting to the relatives and friends of the nine Charleston churchgoers to hear that the FBI director is just sick about the NICS system’s failure. But in the annals of government efficiency, a screw-up like this is otherwise known as a Friday . . .
This is government. This is what they do. The bigger and more pervasive it becomes, the bigger and more egregious the failures. And government isn’t getting any smaller.
Ask the parents of Kate Steinle about how well government — at all levels — worked to keep her daughter safe. Ask the 21 million people whose personal data (including social security numbers) has been compromised by blindingly incompetent government systems management. And those are just examples from the last couple of weeks.
Nine people buried in South Carolina. One innocent woman dead in San Francisco. Millions of identities compromised nationwide. Will anyone in the FBI’s NICS section lose their job? Will someone working for the sanctuary city of San Francisco be out on the street? Are those trick questions? It took demands from Congress to finally dislodge Katherine Archuleta today for criminal incompetence and mismanagement. Don’t bet on any faceless drones – let alone someone in a position of responsibility – getting the short haircut here.
And yet the answer to America’s “gun violence” problem is “universal background checks.” More of the same…just bigger and more expensive. If only they had more people. If only they had more money. Same as it ever was.