Even though Democrats quickly followed news of the Marysville-Pilchuck High School shooting with renewed calls for the kind of background checks contained in the failed Senate gun control bill, the facts demonstrate one clear point: The failed Senate gun bill would not have stopped the Marysville gunman.
This is because the gun used by Jaylen Fryberg was “legally” obtained by his father, and then taken by the younger Fryberg and misused to kill one and wound four on October 24.
According to the Los Angeles Times, an official with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) said simply, “The gun used by Fryberg had been obtained legally.” This phraseology is always a reference indicating the owner of the gun–Fryberg’s father in this instance–went through a background check to acquire it.
We saw this same thing after the Fort Hood shooting in April, when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) called for lawmakers to revisit gun control via expanded background checks because of the attack.
On April 3, Breitbart News reported, Reid said: “Couldn’t we at least have background checks so that people who are ill mentally, or who are felons, shouldn’t be able to buy guns?”
The problem with this–as Breitbart News also reported–is that Fort Hood gunman Ivan Lopez did go through a background check to get his firearm. To use BATFE phraseology, he obtained it “legally,” just like Fryberg’s father in Marysville, like the cop killers in Las Vegas, like Santa Barbara gunman Elliot Rodger, like Maryland mall gunman Darion Marcus Aguilar, like LAX gunman Paul Ciancia, like DC Navy Yard gunman Aaron Alexis, like Aurora theater gunman James Holmes, like Gabby Gifford’s attacker Jared Loughner, and 2009 Fort Hood gunman Nidal Hasan, to name but a few.
Background checks did not stop any of these individuals from carrying out their heinous acts.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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