According to FBI Sources, the U.S. has the most extensive database for weapons tracking, linked to both criminal justice and mental health databases.
OK, so HOW do so many convicted felons and mental defectives so easily gain access to guns?
Oh right....THEY don't buy their firearms LEGALLY.
There's the kink in the system, criminals DON'T obey ANY laws. That kind of goes with the description of criminal ("law breaker").
According to reports, David Anderson, "One of the “Black Hebrew Israelite” killers who targeted a Jewish grocery store in Jersey City left behind a handwritten note that said: “I do this because my creator makes me do this and I hate who he hates.”
(https://nypost.com/…/jersey-city-shooting-suspect-left-beh…/)
(https://nypost.com/…/jersey-city-shooting-suspect-left-beh…/)
As in most such cases, the killer, or, in this case, probably both these killers suffered some form of mental/emotional illness.
Mentally ill and emotionally disturbed people tend to be attracted to groups and ideologies that rationalize their violent impulses as "righteous." Dylann Roof did that, so did Micah Xavier Johnson and other recent mass murderers.
The line about, "My Creator makes me do this," seeks to absolve the killer of blame/guilt in doing something he knows to be wrong.
Perhaps David's and Francine's mental illnesses went undiagnosed, but you know what DIDN'T go unnoticed?
David Anderson's extensive criminal record.
One report noted, "Public records...show that David Anderson had a criminal record.
Anderson was charged in 2007 with felony unlawful possession of a handgun in Hudson County, New Jersey. He was arrested in December 2008 in Hudson County on drug and weapons charges, including possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes, specifically firearms, and unlawful possession of weapons, specifically an air or spring pistol. He was also charged with possession of narcotics. He was found GUILTY of a FELONY WEAPONS CHARGE and spent time in prison and on probation. He also had a previous arrest in 2004 in New Jersey.
"Anderson, who has spent time living in Ohio and New Jersey, has also been arrested in Ohio. In 2009, he was charged in Portage County, Ohio, with criminal mischief, a misdemeanor, and pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail. The case stemmed from a domestic violence incident in Kent, Ohio, records show." (https://heavy.com/news/2019/12/david-anderson/)
So, David Anderson was a convicted felon with prior violent offenses (including felony weapons charges and a domestic violence related conviction)...and he STILL procured guns.
The problem is our gun laws ONLY impact law abiding citizens. To get guns out of the hands of convicted felons and people with mental/emotional disorders, you have to do DIRECT INTERVENTIONS. That means tracking those people down and going to their residences and removing those guns.
That's a difficult and dangerous procedure and Police Departments tend to be loathe to do that.
So, the easiest thing that allows elected officials to avoid riling up Police Unions, while still appearing to care about gun violence is to enact inane laws that target legal, rightful gun owners, instead of violent offenders and the mentally/emotionally ill.
Gun laws...even outright gun bans don't stop crimes like this, nor what Dylann Roof, Micah Xavier Johnson and Jared Loughner did.
The Phillipines has a complete gun ban. It also has a burgeoning backyard gunshop industry (https://youtu.be/Fna9WEO6BjE), because where there's a need, there will always be brave, intrepid people who'll move to fill that need.
IF we really want to drastically reduce gun violence, we already have all the laws and databases we need. Now we need the WILL to enact and enforce direct interdictions on convicted felons and the mentally/emotionally ill. THAT'S a task fraught with danger to both Police and those being interdicted. It's extremely likely that some of these people will fight (very possibly to the death) to keep their guns.
Most of those people SHOULD already be institutionalized. The vast majority of them are dysfunctional (mentally/emotionally unstable) and unable to live productive lives on their own.
We HAVE the tools to reduce gun violence, what we lack is the WILL to confront the evil behind it.
.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment