NBC News Uses California School Shooting to Whip Up Fear About Guns That Are Already Illegal

NBC News is using the November 14 Rancho Tehama school shooting to whip up fear about guns that are already illegal in the state of California.

Their report revolves around “ghost guns,” which they present as something that can be purchased and assembled in just “a couple of hours.” Their report omits the hours of milling required to complete a lower frame before assembly can happen and, more importantly, they completely omit that gun laws in California require that any homemade gun be affixed with a serial number and entered into the state’s gun registry (like any other gun).

Yes, they mention that Rancho Tehama gunman Kevin Neal’s long guns are already banned by the “assault weapons” law in the state of California, but this admission is sandwiched between descriptions of rifles “with multi-round magazines” and intimations that “ghost gun” legislation needs to be taken up at the federal level. They point to the “loophole on so-called ‘ghost guns'” and assure readers that Sen. Chuck Schumer (D- New York) wants to take action.

They report how easily one can acquire a kit to build on an 80 percent frame and attempt to show how dangerous “ghost guns” are by citing two instances of their use, one in Baltimore in 2016 and the alleged used of such guns in the Rancho Tehama attack. In other words, they provide details on two criminal uses of such guns as grounds for preventing law-abiding citizens from owning them.

But their report does not mention that California bars guns on K-12 campuses, even by law-abiding teachers with concealed carry permits. That law was completely ignored by Kevin Neal, as were laws against murder.

Moreover, NBC News does not actually know if Neal’s alleged “ghost guns” had serial numbers on them or not, so they leave the door open in the event that Neal’s guns were registered after all. But worrying about what is legal and illegal is not nearly as important as pushing gun control, which is what the NBC News report is really about.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.