If only we had expanded background checks to prevent something like this from happening (via CBS Philly): “Authorities say a Philadelphia police officer is recovering after he was shot several times during an ambush late Thursday night in West Philadelphia. Philadelphia police commissioner Richard Ross says the officer, identified as 33-year-old Jesse Hartnett, was sitting in his patrol car around 11:30 p.m. at 60th and Spruce Streets when a gunman fired 11 shots through the driver’s side of the car. Police are calling it an ‘attempted assassination.’”

Oh, wait. Scratch that background check theory: “In a press conference, Commissioner Ross said the gun used in the attack was a stolen police firearm. ‘It was stolen back in October of 2013. It was reported, and that is one of the things you regret the most when an officer’s gun is stolen, when it is used against one of your own.’”

It gets worse. During questioning with police, the assailant, as is becoming all too familiar, declared allegiance to the Islamic State, and new reports indicate the attack was only part of a broader crime spree aimed at police. NBC10 reports, “[A]n anonymous tipster told officers that ‘the threat to police is not over’ and that the man who shot Officer Jesse Hartnett is ‘part of a group that consists of three others,’ adding that the alleged shooter ‘is not the most radical of the four.’” But Mayor Jim Kenney on Friday was careful to stipulate, “In no way shape or form does anyone in this room believe that Islam or the teaching of Islam has anything to do with” the carnage. Surely, the Religion of Peace™ does indeed play a part in this crime, as so-called “lone wolves” attack based on their shared ideology of hate, but so might Barack Obama’s vilification of law enforcement bear some blame. Recall the two officers assassinated in New York in 2014. Obama has greatly increased the risks facing those who already put their lives on the line in service to the citizenry. Obama’s sentiments toward Muslims and police have created ripe conditions for what we saw Thursday night.

(Updated.)