Published reports in several California newspapers—particularly the Sacramento Bee and Los Angeles Times—are unintentionally revealing the absolute failure of Golden State gun control laws in the aftermath of the deadly Sacramento shooting.
Newspaper editorial boards dare not call this a “loophole” lest they be laughed into the unemployment lines, but the fact remains that the people already arrested in connection with this event are all legally disqualified from possessing firearms. The “loophole” in California laws is the same problem affecting gun control on the national level, and one anti-gun editorialists and gun prohibition lobbying groups stubbornly refuse to acknowledge:
Criminals do not obey gun laws.
As if to underscore this fact, the Sacramento Bee is reporting that one of the people arrested in connection with the shooting—Smiley Martin—has a criminal history dating back nine years, and he was released early from prison in February.
The Los Angeles Times laid bare the problem in three paragraphs Wednesday:
“Police also announced two arrests, including one man with a long rap sheet who is currently hospitalized with bullet wounds. That man, Smiley Martin, 27, will be booked at Sacramento County Main Jail on suspicion of ‘possession of a firearm by a prohibitive person and possession of a machine gun’ as soon as his medical treatments are complete, police said.
“Martin is the brother of another suspect, Dandrae Martin, arrested a day earlier on suspicion of assault with a firearm and being a felon in possession of a gun,” the story added.
“Police also announced a third arrest on Tuesday, 31-year-old Daviyonne Dawson, who was seen carrying a gun in the aftermath of the shooting, but did not actually fire it. Dawson is not accused of involvement in the melee, but faces charges of being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm,” the newspaper reported.
Dawson was released on bail Tuesday.
In Sacramento, the Bee is reporting, “A stolen handgun found Sunday amid the blood and bodies in the aftermath of Sacramento’s largest mass shooting had been converted to fully automatic, police announced Tuesday. Police said the shooting, which left six people dead and a dozen wounded, appears to have been the result of a gang-related feud among people with lengthy criminal histories that would have prohibited them from owning guns, ammunition and magazines. Investigators haven’t released any details about the weapons used in the shooting, other than to say that one of the handguns they recovered was stolen and had been ‘converted to a weapon capable of automatic gunfire.’”
Translation: Everyone jailed so far violated an existing gun control law. One of the recovered firearms has been illegally converted to fire full-auto, which is a violation of both state and federal law.
Already, there is an effort to shift the narrative away from gun control failure and the culpability of those responsible, to firearms.
The L.A. Times story quoted Sacramento-based criminal defense attorney Linda Parisi, who has been appointed to represent one of the suspects. She told reporters, “It’s more than just the criminal justice system. As a community, we need to address gun violence.”
The same report noted Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg is “a longtime advocate for gun control.” He is scheduled to “join legislative leaders and criminal justice reform advocates Wednesday to call for ‘immediate and substantial investments in crime prevention and healing services for crime victims.’”
Translation: Steinberg and the others will be calling for more gun control laws.
California has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation, including “universal background check” requirements even for private sales, a 10-day waiting period on handgun purchases, magazine capacity limits and discretionary concealed carry permits.
Every one of those laws failed.
