The sheriff overseeing the investigation into the shooting at Michigan’s Oxford High responded to a reporter’s gun control question Wednesday by stressing the need for more prosecutions of criminals who use firearms.
Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard was asked about the possibility of the Oxford High attack leading to consideration of “gun legislation.”
Bouchard responded:
We have a a whole lot of gun laws that are meant to hold criminals accountable when they commit a crime, when they use a gun, when they carry a gun illegally, and they are not utilized today. That’s one of our constant concerns around the country…we see this across the nation, we catch somebody illegally with a gun and it’s pled down to a misdemeanor and they’re out.
He added, “I believe the surest way to get a handle on holding people accountable when they’re doing things illegally with a gun is to punish them, and that’s not happening in many communities across America today.”
Bouchard referenced the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), saying there is “a huge number of people that are prohibited from buying that firearm that are caught by the system that are never prosecuted for trying. We have gun laws in place, we’re not holding people accountable.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News 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.