U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- An MTV interview with anti-gun-rights Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy that attempted to tie the Nov. 14 Saugus High School shooting in Santa Clarita, Calif. to a gun control bill pushed by Murphy and fellow Sen. Richard Blumenthal blows some big holes in their effort to pass H.R. 8, the federal “universal background check” measure.
The story noted how Blumenthal learned of the shooting while “speaking to the Senate about why they should pass the law.” At that point, according to MTV, Blumenthal declared, “As I speak on the floor right now, there is a school shooting in Santa [Clarita], California. How can we turn the other way? How can we refuse to see that shooting in real time, demanding our attention, requiring our action? We are complicit if we fail to act. It is not just a political responsibility; it is a moral imperative.”
But wait a moment. At that point, Blumenthal had no way of knowing anything about the shooter, how he got the gun in a state with some of the strictest gun laws in the nation—including its own “universal background check” requirement—or how H.R. 8 might have prevented the shooting. As it became quickly clear, no background check requirement would have made a whit of difference, and the Murphy-Blumenthal effort is merely exploiting the tragedy to press an old agenda.
Murphy subsequently told MTV, “We do know that if we pass a universal background check bill, we are going to save lives. Less dangerous people will get guns and there’ll be less shootings.” He cited the Odessa, Texas shooting earlier this year in which the killer obtained a gun without a background check, and subsequently murdered seven people.
“That’s why we need to close these loopholes,” Murphy insisted.
Alan Gottlieb, founder and Executive Vice President of the Second Amendment Foundation, had an interesting observation.
“With each new gun control law,” he said, “California citizens were assured that the new restrictions were necessary to stop deadly crimes. But the only people to suffer the consequences are law-abiding gun owners and innocent victims.”
Murphy acknowledged to MTV, “There’s no one piece of legislation that’s going to stop all shootings, whether it be in schools or in neighborhoods.”
A moment later, he further noted, “There are some mass shootings where the individual got the gun without a background check.” This certainly appears to be the case with the now-deceased teen who opened fire at Saugus High School in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Clarita. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives “was examining a cache of unregistered weapons seized from the home” of the teen gunman. The newspaper also said authorities “remain unsure about where the .45-caliber handgun used to carry out the attack…was acquired. They are trying to determine whether the gun was made from parts purchased separately and then assembled.”
No legislation, including H.R. 8, is going to prevent a determined would-be killer from obtaining a firearm, and the uncertainty about the origin of the .45 used at Saugus High School underscores that. The Los Angeles Times also noted Tuesday, “Investigators found several firearms during a search of the teen’s home, and some were not registered.”
During his MTV interview, Murphy exhibited what many in the firearms community have come to regard as a “Pollyannaish” attitude about how gun control works.
“If we ban these assault weapons and if we ban these high-capacity magazines that hold 30 or a hundred bullets,” Murphy said, “[I believe] we’ll cut down on the number of people who are killed in these mass shootings but will also probably cause some of these mass shooters to not actually do it in the first place.”
This is reflective of what former Democratic presidential candidate Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke said during an interview about his proposal to “buy back” so-called “assault rifles.” He maintained during the interview that he believes American gun owners are law-abiding citizens who would simply obey the law and turn in their guns without incident. That contention drew heaps of criticism from the firearms community.
Meanwhile, Gottlieb, who also chairs the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, responded to anti-gun billionaire and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s apology over the weekend to a church group for championing the “stop-and-frisk” program while he was in office.
Now apparently preparing for a presidential run as a Democrat, the party-switching Bloomberg told his audience, “I got something really wrong” with stop-and-frisk. Gottlieb quickly fired back in a prepared statement: “You also got my gun rights wrong!”
“For years,” the gun rights leader said, “Bloomberg has treated the constitutionally-protected Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens like they are a regulated privilege. He’s weaponized his vast wealth to erode those rights in every corner of the country by supporting anti-rights initiatives and anti-gun politicians. He has waged a war on people who have committed no crimes, harmed nobody and merely wish to be left alone to mind their own business. To protect our guns and 15 round magazines, we need to ban Bloomberg’s billion round checkbook before he assaults our Second Amendment with it.”
“Bloomberg’s confession belies his treatment of American gun owners as second-class citizens,” Gottlieb added. “If anyone deserves an apology, it is the law-abiding firearms owners whose rights Bloomberg has tried to trample while he enjoys the perks of a wealthy lifestyle, including armed security that keeps a healthy distance between the former mayor and the people he treats with such disdain.”
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
I cringe whenever I see “unregistered guns” in an article about, and especially, from California, where we do not have mandatory registration (except for so-called assault rifles, whatever those are). The point is to make it seem more nefarious than reality says it is.
Bloomberg is a raving lunatic socialist that wants your guns so that he can rule as your King: and you will bow to him. And he will reward you with more safety measures, just like he did when Governor of New York. Here’s a look at just what kind of guy he is that would be President of the most powerful nation in the world. “Bloomberg supports the strict drug laws of New York City. He has stated that he smoked marijuana in the past, and was quoted in a 2001 interview as saying, ‘You bet I did. I enjoyed… Read more »
Amen! Laws do not prevent crime. Bans do not eliminate merchandise. Drugs are banned – we are awash in them. Banning guns will not remove guns from our lives. This is NOT NOT NOT about safety. The left knows they cannot move on their coup until the conservatives (who own 90% of the guns) are disarmed. They don’t care about the “children”. They only care about their agenda and getting it completed – and, they are almost complete! Every day that passes makes me think that war is inevitable. What I fear is that war is what these fanatics really… Read more »
Let these HYPOCRITES dismiss all security guards with guns – 24 / 7. Then tell my how SECURE YOU ARE. Hypocrites trying to spread their hypocritical LIES and PROPAGANDA to the rest of the world who, many, have had only contact with guns via the SLAUGHTER they see in MAKE BELIEVE MOVIES and the SLAUGHTER done in “GUN FREE ZONES” being done mainly by DemocRATS who are on PSYCHOTROPIC – MIND ALTERING = DRUGS – given out, almost as candy, by “doctors”. Can someone state again how many deaths are caused by MEDICAL MALFEASANCE compared to MURDERS by THUGS with… Read more »
SHHHHHH! You are spreading “conspiratorial theories”. HOWEVER: HITLER and his NAZIS used the tactic you are referring to in the mid to late 1930s. First, GUN REGISTRATIONS; Second, GUN CONFISCATIONS; Third, SLAUGHTER of the INFERIOR RACES – – according to the “elite superman cabal”.
@USA, Best thing you have written, to date.
Democrats will never admit it but gun control is working precisely as planned. Democrat intimidation of good people who normally would protect themselves has prevented them from carrying firearms. The result is adult on-site reprisal never changes — NOBODY RETURNS FIRE!!
And democrat reaction never changes — GRAB THE GUNS, GRAB THE GUNS!! We all should ask, WHAT GUNS?!! Nobody there had any. I’d also ask whom they hope to disarm. The victims invariably were rendered defenseless by their own misanthropic government. It’s ridiculous.
Not certain but I seem to remember the Odessa Texas incident did involve a firearm brought in from antoher state, But as I recall the purchase was legal in that state, background check included. Might be confusing wiht another event. They are beginning to sort of blend together.Same basic ingredients, just different proportions. And the same reaction in the stupid press, and lawmakers. Let a kid fun over some otherw with his car, knife three to death, kill three others with a handgun, the universal “cure” will be to ban “assault weapons” (which in my state now includes the Ruger… Read more »
If you have ever heard of Murphy’s law this brain dead moron is an example of it. These “pie in the sky” democrats have their head up their posterior if they think they can take all of our guns. To completely take all guns and all knowledge of how to make them is way beyond and above the thought process they have. It ain’t goina happen. They are just wasting more time and money.
Eedjit pontificators fail to remember a few cold hard FACTS: ONE since when do BATF have any reason to determine if any give weapon is “registered”? There is NO provisioin, other than for NSF classified weapons, for any registration at federal level. WHY are Feds doing local corrupt state work? Not their bailiwick TWO yes, a pistol CAN be assembled from its component parts, which can all, EXCEPT FOR ONE, be gathered togethter by mail order, no record, no background check, no FFL. But here is the rub that PROVES they are lying: that ONE PART is, by federal law,… Read more »