Dr. AWR Hawkins: Gun Control Is an Appeal to Law-Abiding Criminals

Amid calls for bans on “bump stocks,” “assault weapons,” and “high capacity” magazines it is important to remember that gun control in general is an appeal to law-abiding criminals.

But since criminals, by nature, are not law-abiding, new gun controls will be ignored by the same demographic that has been ignoring the old gun controls for decades. This highlights the foolishness of pushing more gun control in the wake of a high profile crime.

Consider the current scenario–Emotions are high in the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School attack. Students from schools around the country are planning to attend a March 24 student march for gun control and celebrities like Julianne Moore, Justin Bieber, and Alyssa Milano are rallying behind the march. George and Amal Clooney, Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, and Jeffery Katzenberg are donating a total of $2 million to the march and television personalities like Jimmy Kimmel are crying on camera, urging Pres. Trump and Congress to “do something.”

The request to “do something” is a broad request for more gun laws, but what good will those laws do in world where criminals already ignore any law that stands in the way of the crime they want to commit? After all, Nikolas Cruz not only broke laws against murder in attacking Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School but also violated prohibitions against weapons and ammunition on campus. So what do leftists believe, that perhaps one more law would have convinced to Cruz adhere to be a good citizen?

Looking at this scenario from another angle, it must be noted that the gun laws pursued by the left are already a demonstrable failure. This is evident in the fact that the left’s go-to gun control, universal background checks, has been repeatedly undermined and proven impotent by myriad mass shooters who acquired their guns via background checks.

Firearms acquired via background checks were used in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High attack, Texas church attack (November 5, 2017), Las Vegas attack (October 1, 2017), Alexandria attack (June 14, 2017), Orlando attack (June 12, 2016), San Bernardino attack (December 2, 2015), Colorado Springs attack (October 31, 2015), Umpqua Community College attack (October 1, 2015), Alison Parker  attack (August 26, 2015), Lafayette movie theater attack (July 23, 2015), Chattanooga attack (July 16, 2015), Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal attack (Jun 17, 2015), Muhammad Carton Contest attack (May 3, 2014), Santa Barbara attack (May 23, 2014), Fort Hood attack (April 2, 2014), Arapahoe High School attack (December 13, 2013), D.C. Navy Yard attack (September 16, 2013), Aurora movie theater attack (July 20, 2012), Gabby Giffords attack (January 8, 2011), Fort Hood attack (November 5, 2009), and the Virginia Tech attack (April 16, 2007), among many others.

It is nearly impossible to think of a single high profile shooting of recent memory where the attacker did not acquire his guns via a background check. The exception to this is the individual who attacked Sandy Hook Elementary School (December 14, 2012). That attacker circumvented the background check system by stealing his guns, from someone who passed checks for them, then killing that individual before going to the school to kill 26 more.

As with the Florida school shooter, the Sandy Hook attacker broke laws against murder and violated weapons prohibitions on a school campus. Moreover, he violated laws against theft in order to acquire his guns.

Does anyone really believe one more gun law would make a difference or that there is such a thing as a law-abiding criminal?

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.