The View

No, not the TV show filled with brainless twits, The View From North Central Idaho, a blog run by Joe Huffman.  Joe is a heavy-hitter in the gun rights blog world and he links to a lot of interesting things, with good commentary.  His link this morning is about the mass shooter recently in Kansas, the guy who just drove around senselessly shooting people.  That takes us to a Washington Post article that talks about the shooter and the investigation since:

Walton said that the shooting spree was only stopped when a lone police officer headed inside the factory and killed the gunman, helping avoid a far greater loss of life.

Kudos to the officer, who followed training and confronted the gunman.  That's the way to stop a shooting spree; by shooting the shooter.  Well done to the anonymous officer.

But, we learn more about the shooter:

Investigators were initially unsure how Ford obtained the weapons, given his criminal record in Kansas as well as Florida; as a convicted felon, he could not possess guns.

A convicted felon, he couldn't own guns.  So, where did he get them?
 On Friday, federal authorities filed a criminal charge against Sarah T. Hopkins, 28, of Newton, Kan., alleging that she transferred the guns to Ford last year despite knowing he was a convicted felon.

She bought the Glock semi-automatic handgun and the Zastava Serbia, AK-47-type semi-automatic rifle that Ford had when he was killed, an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said in an affidavit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.

Reading further, it looks like a classic straw purchase.  She was in a relationship with him, and bought the guns in an illegal transfer.  She could face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.  Tood bad, so sad.  We violate federal law at our peril.

The lesson to draw here is that no gun laws currently in existence could have stopped this spree because multiple laws were violated to make this possible.  Straw purchases, convicted felons having firearms, not to mention the sins of murder and mayhem.  Gun laws don't stop criminals.  Only good people with guns stop criminals.  Both of these lessons are plainly evident in this sad, sad marrative.

Hat tip to Joe Huffman, a writer I've been reading for years.  For reasons I can't explain, he has never been on my blogroll, but I've recently atoned for that mistake.