Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) will be introducing a gun control bill in reaction to the Las Vegas shooting and admits it would not have stopped the October 1 attack in Vegas.
According to Talking Points Memo, Murphy’s bill will call for background checks to be expanded from retail sales to private sales, too. He plans to introduce his legislation on Wednesday.
The problem with this push is that it is gun control for gun control’s sake, inasmuch as Vegas attacker Stephen Paddock passed background checks for the guns he used in the October 1 attack. He did not acquire them in a dark alley, at a gun show, or in any of the numerous other ways Democrats like to posit when trying to gain traction for gun control.
Murphy understands the impotency of background checks and is trying to frame them as something that could possibly stop other attacks. He said, “You cannot build a political movement if you change the issue you care about every three months and the gun industry knows that. That’s why the gun industry said after Sandy Hook, background checks wouldn’t have stopped the Sandy Hook murders. What we’re trying to do is pass legislation that is prospective. I can’t pass anything that would reverse time and stop Las Vegas.”
The problem with Murphy’s claims is that his background check bill would not have stopped any of these attacks either, because the gunmen—and gunwomen—in these attacks all passed background checks for their guns:
- the Congressional baseball practice attacker (June 14, 2017)
- the Orlando attacker (June 12, 2016)
- the UCLA attacker (June 1, 2016)
- the San Bernardino attackers (December 2, 2015)
- the Colorado Springs attacker (October 31, 2015)
- the Umpqua Community College attacker (October 1, 2015)
- Alison Parker’s attacker (August 26, 2015)
- the Lafayette movie theater attacker (July 23, 2015)
- the Chattanooga attacker (July 16, 2015)
- the alleged Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal attacker (Jun 17, 2015)
- the Muhammad Cartoon Contest attackers (May 3, 2014)
- the Las Vegas cop killers (June 9, 2015)
- the Santa Barbara attacker (May 23, 2014)
- the Fort Hood attacker (April 2, 2014)
- the Arapahoe High School attacker (December 13, 2013)
- the D.C. Navy Yard attacker (September 16, 2013)
- the Aurora movie theater attacker (July 20, 2012)
- Gabby Giffords’ attacker (January 8, 2011)
- the Fort Hood attacker (November 5, 2009)
- the Virginia Tech attacker (April 16, 2007), and many others.
Murphy gave lip service to a bump stock ban and an “assault weapons” ban in the aftermath of the Vegas attack, all while maintaining that expanded background checks are the “North Star” of the Democrats gun control agenda. Democrats fervently push background checks not because such checks are effective, but because they necessarily lead to other controls, such as firearm registration and licensing for firearm owners.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of “Bullets with AWR Hawkins,” a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.