Not really, but he might as well have. Kelly is blaming guns for what three Oklahoma teens allegedly did with one. That makes about as much sense as blaming matches and gasoline for the Muslim Brotherhood’s pogrom against Egypt’s Christians.
Five days since a trio of teenagers shot and killed an aspiring Australian baseball player, allegedly purely out of boredom, the commissioner of the NYPD spoke about the event specifically, and more generally, about the growing firearm issue nationwide:
“It’s horrific, no question about it, and I think it just underscores the fact that there’s way too many guns abroad in America,” said Kelly. “We have as many as 300 million guns in this country, and it’s just an incredible number. Unfortunately, you’re going to see events like this take place when you have that number of weapons. We think that we’re in need of sensible gun laws, federal laws.”
The three accused teens in this case violated numerous laws that are already on the books. Juveniles may not legally purchase firearms without an adult. How did they obtain the murder weapon, as well as the guns one of them is pictured with on social media? Scratching the serial number off the shotgun that was recovered from their car is a felony. Murder is obviously illegal. Laws didn’t stop any of this. Background checks would not have stopped them, and as Kelly surely knows, the vast majority of all gun purchases actually do involve background checks. But that’s irrelevant in this case, as the teens are underage to buy firearms.
The only thing that would have stopped this specific case, at least as far as gun laws are related, is total confiscation of all firearms. And that still doesn’t stop all shootings – even in Australia where guns are banned, shootings still happen.
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