Saturday, August 8, 2009

Three Time Offender

The gun nuts are always saying we don’t need more gun laws, we just need to enforce the ones we already have. I’d like to suggest we start with dealers like Wisconsin’s Eric Thompson, who armed the Pennsylvania gym shooter, the Virginia Tech shooter and the Northern Illinois University shooters.

Wow, does he get some kind of prize for that?

The Gun Guys blog reports:
Now, he has done it again. The tortured misogynist who killed three and wounded nine in a Pittsburgh area gym this week was another customer of TGSCOM, the online arms warehouse that Thompson operates, buying a magloader and a high-capacity magazine from the dealer last year.

Once again, Thompson is telling journalists how upset he is, and how the incident proves that potential victims should arm themselves, to protect themselves from killers. The victims the Pennsylvania killer shot were participating in an aerobics class.

Yes, tucking a pistol in my spandex before heading for pilates class is surely the workable solution.

If bars and restaurants and servers can be held responsible for drunk drivers who were over-served, then I don't see why gun dealers cannot be held responsible for failing to do an adequate background check not once, not twice, but three times. Of course, gun dealers are sued all the time by victims of the people they've armed. It just seems like someone who armed psychotic killers three times in the past few years should face some repercussions for their irresponsible behavior. Instead, he's telling folks that since he's arming the psychos, the non-crazies better arm themselves from him, too.

Of course George Sodini is the poster boy for everything wrong with our shoot ‘em up gun laws:

“The 48-year-old Pennsylvania gym shooter had been issued a concealed weapons permit. The high-capacity magazine he used would have been illegal for sale in the U.S. under the Federal assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004,” Helmke said. “Why do we make it so easy for these dangerous to get these dangerous weapons? We need to be asking this.”

Why, indeed.

Y’all must be so proud of yourselves.