California governor, Jerry Brown, in a rush to exploit the San Bernardino terrorist attack to push for more gun control, attacked neighboring Nevada and Arizona:
In wake of the San Bernardino massacre which left 14 dead earlier this week, California Gov. Jerry Brown went on the attack Saturday slamming neighboring states’ gun laws.
Brown told the Sacramento Bee that Nevada and Arizona are a “gigantic back door through which any terrorist can walk.” Brown was in France for climate talks and was noncommittal on whether to strengthen the state’s gun control laws.
“California has some of the toughest gun control laws of any state,” Brown said. “And Nevada and Arizona are wide open, so that’s a gigantic back door through which any terrorist can walk.”
Those of us who’ve paid attention to this still-developing story recognize a wee little problem with Governor Brown’s fusillade:
The weapons used in the atrocity committed by Sayed Riswan Farook and Tashfeen Malik were purchased legally in California.
Brown was either ignorant of that inconvenient fact and simply made something up because he thought it would sound good to a fawning press, or he knew that neither Nevada nor Arizona had anything to do with the weapons used in the terrorist attack. Such incompetency or dishonesty not only merits opprobrium from every decent person, but it renders Brown morally unqualified to hold the position he does. The weapons were purchased in California, and the rental car that the Islamic terrorists used, though bearing Utah license plates, was also rented in California. A decent person wouldn’t attempt to blame the innocent, but Brown apparently thinks that decency is beneath him.
Though the weapons were purchased legally, the Wall Street Journal reports:
The rifles used in the San Bernardino mass shooting were illegal under California law because they were modified and violated the state’s ban on assault weapons, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives determined on Thursday.
Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, the suspects in the Wednesday shooting that left 14 people dead and 21 wounded, were armed with four guns. They carried two .223-caliber semiautomatic weapons and two 9mm semiautomatic pistols, according to San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan.
The two semiautomatic rifles were versions of the popular AR-15 model, according to San Bernardino officials. One was made by DPMS Inc., and the other by Smith & Wesson.
While they were originally sold legally, with magazine locking devices commonly known as bullet buttons, the rifles were subsequently altered in different ways to make them more powerful, according to Meredith Davis, a special agent with the ATF.
So, we have weapons legally purchased in California and subsequently altered to increase magazine capacity and to render the rifles to be fully automatic. So, what’s to prevent future terrorists from doing the same thing? The gun grabbers will insist that we need background checks on all weapons purchases. Oh, yes, that will work…
The purchases of the two rifles and two handguns carried by the two suspects in the shootings all passed the background checks required by federal law, according to Ms. Davis.
Under federal law, all firearm purchases made through federally licensed dealers are subject to a review with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Those who are willing to blow up innocent human beings will not hesitate to violate firearm laws. Our vaunted background checks apparently short-circuited with Malik:
Malik was granted a conditional green card last summer after a background check by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, and the couple held a walima, a celebration after the wedding, at the Islamic Center of Riverside for people who couldn’t attend the Saudi ceremony…
Even persons who would be picked up on a background check can easily get a straw purchaser to obtain weapons on h/er behalf. Of course that’s illegal too, but terrorists are not known for being overly scrupulous about the law. The gun-grabber lobby’s grandstanding efforts to do “something” about gun violence appear farcical to sane persons, but there’s an agenda at play. California’s very strict gun-control posture did not prevent these crimes. Next stop, firearm bans. That has always been the Left’s objective, and it always will be. There’s nothing “commonsense” about it; it’s just the logical outgrowth of the Left’s tyrannical tendencies. Facts do not support their position, but they don’t need facts; they just need a gullible public who’ll act on their Goebbels-like propaganda. America, it is our God-given right to defend ourselves. California couldn’t prevent this massacre. It is up to us to do so.
