By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
In a startling report, NBC News has acknowledged a new law passed swiftly last month by Congress and signed by Joe Biden “probably” would not have prevented the July 4 mass shooting in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, where seven people were fatally wounded and dozens more were injured.
“Experts and congressional aides familiar with the law say it’s unlikely it would have stopped a person with the suspect’s profile from passing a background check and being able to buy firearms,” NBC reported. “But they say there is an indirect way the law could have kept guns away from him — had a number of dominoes fallen into place.”
It is those “dominoes” that are the problem, underscoring the belief held by many in the Second Amendment community that it is one thing to pass a law and declare victory, but another thing to actually implement the law as it is supposed to be implemented.
Still, that hasn’t stopped anti-gun politicians from pressing for adoption of more restrictions in the aftermath of Highland Park, Uvalde and Buffalo; all mass shootings involving young people with apparent emotional problems who exhibited clear warning signs of trouble.
And now the New York Times is reporting how new gun control measures adopted in New Jersey “signal a coming slog of piecemeal legislation as states grapple with last month’s (Bruen) decision, which overturned a New York state law that restricted how and where residents could carry handguns. Even as states tighten laws to circumvent the court, a litany of measures remains in legislative limbo.”
That sums up states’ stubborn resistance to the Supreme Court’s pro-Second Amendment ruling. Liberal states are scrambling to “circumvent the court.” Just how long the high court will allow such stubbornness to continue remains to be seen. The court does not return to session until the first week of October.
Meanwhile, as news reports continue to focus on the mayhem in Highland Park, a report at MSN seems to criticize the media and establishment for not looking harder at the continuing bloodbath in Chicago, where murder is almost a daily occurrence. The liberal establishment seldom mentions the Windy City problem, perhaps because it destroys the narrative that strict gun control laws reduce or prevent violent crime.
According to the popular website Heyjackass.com, which tracks Chicago homicides, the city has so far seen 19 murders in July, an average of more than two per day. So far this year, the body count is 316, and nearly half of the year remains. If the pace continues—or picks up during the hot summer months of July, August and the first half of September as seems to be the pattern—the city could surpass last year’s carnage.
In 2021, the website says, Chicago recorded 854 slayings, of which 798 involved firearms. There were 3,745 people shot and wounded. So far this year, 1,383 people have been wounded by gunfire in the city.
Meanwhile, out in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed more gun control laws, bringing the total number of gun laws in the state up to 107, according to the Sacramento Bee. None of those laws prevented an incident in Sacramento early Monday in which five people were shot outside of a nightclub, leaving one victim—former high school football star Greg Najee Grimes—dead.