New York Democrat Says Boston Bombers Would Have Been Stopped by a Background Check

Rep. Carolyn Maloney must be privvy to some laws that are not on the books and unknown to everyone but herself. On MSNBC today, the gun control advocate declared that gun background checks would have stopped the Boston bombers. Even though, obviously, they didn’t.

“Tamerlan, as we know now, was on the terrorist watch list, so we know a gun check would stop him, if there was a background check,” she said. “As it stands now, Tamerlan … or the next terrorist can go to any gun show and buy a hundred round magazine, they can buy all of the assault weapons they want, no questions asked.”

Except that current background checks don’t apply to anyone buying pressure cookers, model cars and fireworks or whatever the bombers used to get their gunpowder. The gun they used wasn’t part of the attack, and may not have been part of their retreat to New York if they hadn’t been warned by Mrs. Tsarnaev.

Being on a terrorist watch list does not and and of itself necessarily mean someone will ping the NICS system, not if they have no convictions. Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s presence on a terrorist watch list did not stop him from obtaining the handgun he possessed illegally. He reportedly had one gun with the serial number scratched off — another felony on top of all of the others he committed. The law didn’t even stop that, which turned out to be one of his lesser crimes.

So, none of what Rep. Maloney says about the Boston bombers turns out to be true. Yet she wants to pass more laws that would apply to law-abiding Americans. Apparently it’s too much to ask our betters in Washington to get a clue, or stop lying, when talking about guns, gun shows and gun-related crimes.