Over 30 guns were seized when the gun smuggling ring was raided, including machine pistols that police say were destined for Canada. I applaud the law enforcement agencies for their excellent work in stopping these criminals. Now if only the politicians would recognize that passing gun control laws will only harm law abiding citizens, since smuggling guns in illegally is how criminals get their weapons.
It should come as no surprise that criminals disobey gun control laws, just as they disobey other laws, since that is what makes them criminals. The presence of this, and countless other gun smuggling rings shouldn’t be surprising either. That is because since convicted felons are prohibited by state and federal law from possessing guns, they turn to gun smugglers to buy their guns. These smugglers import guns (including machine guns) and sell them to criminals, which bypasses background checks and other gun control/possession laws. Since criminals get their guns from such smugglers who don’t do background checks or report sales to the government, gun control laws don’t stop or even inconvenience the criminals. Instead, only the law abiding citizens are affected, leaving them unarmed and vulnerable. Empirical evidence, such as the high handgun murder rates in D.C. and Chicago (which both have had handgun bans for decades) makes the above facts clear as well.
It really should be clear by now that criminals such as these smugglers and their clients are not affected by gun control laws. Such laws have only served to disarm law abiding citizens, making them easier target for criminals. Instead of passing gun control laws, the legislature should provide ample funding to law enforcement so that they can shut down more of these criminal gun smuggling rings.