Hawkins: Uvalde School Shooter Passed Background Check — So Why Does the Left Think More Background Checks Would Have Stopped Him?

The Uvalde shooter passed a background check to acquire his guns, so why does the left think more background checks would make a difference?

The shooter’s “legal” purchase of firearms is  something the left has avoided mentioning since the Uvalde shooting occurred, but it must be discussed because it is pertinent to the current gun control push. In truth, it undercuts the current gun control push, which is probably why the left avoids it.

On May 30 the Associated Press listed 22 mass shootings, dating back to July 20, 2012, and sourced the guns in each shooting to find they were acquired via a background check in every instance but one.

Breitbart News has long kept a running tally of the high-profile mass shootings of the last 15 years, and every attacker but three got his guns via a background check. Two of the three who avoided background checks–the Clackamus Town Center attacker (December 11, 2012) and the Sandy Hook attacker (December 14, 2012)–stole their guns, so no amount of point-of-sale gun checks would have stopped them. Only one individual, the Midland, Texas, attacker (August 31, 2019), acquired his gun via a private sale.

The truth is inescapable: High-profile mass shooters are usually people with criminal intent but no criminal record, therefore they can (and do) pass background checks to get their guns.

Here is a short list of some of the high-profile attackers who passed background checks to acquire their guns:

• Uvalde School attacker (May 24, 2022)
• Buffalo grocery attacker (May 14, 2022)
• Indianapolis FedEx attacker (April 15, 2021)
• Atlanta-area attacker (March 16, 2021)
• Parkland high school attacker (February 14, 2018)
• Texas church attacker (November 5, 2017)
• Las Vegas attacker (October 1, 2017)
• Alexandria attacker (June 14, 2017)
• Orlando attacker (June 12, 2016)
• UCLA gunman (June 1, 2016)
• San Bernardino attackers (December 2, 2015)
• Colorado Springs attacker (October 31, 2015)
• Umpqua Community College attacker (October 1, 2015)
• Alison Parker’s attacker (August 26, 2015)
• Lafayette movie theater attacker (July 23, 2015)
• Chattanooga attacker (July 16, 2015)
• Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal attacker (Jun 17, 2015)
• Muhammad Cartoon Contest attackers (May 3, 2014)
• Las Vegas cop killers (June 9, 2015)
• Santa Barbara attacker (May 23, 2014)
• Fort Hood attacker (April 2, 2014)
• Arapahoe High School attacker (December 13, 2013)
• D.C. Navy Yard attacker (September 16, 2013)
• Aurora movie theater attacker (July 20, 2012)
• Gabby Giffords’ attacker (January 8, 2011)
• Fort Hood attacker (November 5, 2009)
• Northern Illinois University attacker (February 14, 2008)
• Virginia Tech attacker (April 16, 2007)

Yet the left continues to push background checks, despite the fact that checks did not stop the above-listed high-profile attacks.

Moreover, the left actually points to many of the above-listed attacks in demanding more background checks.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) responded to the October 1, 2017, Las Vegas attack by calling for more background checks, and went so far as to describe universal background checks as the Democrats’ gun control “North Star.” But the Las Vegas attacker passed background checks to acquire his guns, so Murphy’s expansion of checks would have done nothing to stop the attack. (Just as an expansion of checks would have done nothing to stop the attacks in Uvalde, Buffalo, Indianapolis, the Atlanta area, Parkland, Orlando, San Bernardino, Fort Hood, the Aurora movie theater, etc.)

Only one explanation for the left’s feverish push for universal background checks makes sense, and that reason is that such checks literally give government the power to stop law-abiding citizens from acquiring guns. Once every gun sale–retail or private–is forced to be conducted via a government background check, then all guns sales can be halted–or sales of certain types of guns can by halted–by the same government conducting the checks.

Canada has a strict background check requirements tied to licenses for gun purchases and gun ownership. GunPolicy.org notes that those licenses have to be renewed every five years, requiring another in-depth background check for renewal.

With such control over who can buy guns and when, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau was able to announce Monday the enactment of a freeze on handgun sales.

CNN quoted Trudeau saying, “What this means is that it will no longer be possible to buy, sell, transfer or import handguns anywhere in Canada.”

That seems to be the only viable reason why an expansion of background checks is the “North Star” for Democrats, as far as gun control is concerned. It literally gives government the ability to mandate when guns can be sold, if guns can be sold, etc.

Of course, the Second Amendment would bar such infringement, but since when have the Democrats or other leftists allowed the Second Amendment to get in their way?

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 and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.