John R. Lott is the expert about what gun control advocates fail to grasp after mass shootings:
Another horrifying attack and immediately gun control politicians and organizations are calling for more gun control laws. Former Vice President Joe Biden; Sens. Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren; Mayor Pete Buttigieg; former congressman Beto O’Rourke, and many others put out calls for more gun control within a few hours of the tragedy. The question of “How many more?” is a question that we ask ourselves all the time. Now the desire “to do something” is very understandable, but let’s try to do something that matters.
Here is something that people might want to consider. Virginia Beach bans employees from being able to carry guns. While it was indeed possible for a civilian to enter the “Operations Building” where the attack occurred, the “Operations Building,” as its name suggests, was a building where virtually only employees would be in.
The operations building contained up to 400 employees in city/schools print services, mail room services, planning, public works, public utilities, communications and information technology, and traffic engineering. Even with public utilities, the office where customers could pay bills was located in another building. This “operations” building is also relatively isolated from the rest of the buildings.
Everyone in the building who was killed was a public employee. They were all law-abiding people who obeyed the firearms ban. But the killer, also a public employee, didn’t obey the ban.
These killers face no real penalty for violating gun laws. Shooters die in three-quarters of attacks. Even when they don’t, the threat of losing their job or facing a few year prison term means nothing to someone who is already facing multiple murder counts.
Gun control advocates don’t seem to grasp this important point. Attackers don’t follow gun laws. But the penalties for illegally carrying a gun are very serious for law-abiding people.
Read more: Townhall
Image credit: www.townhall.com.
