The Patriot Post® · Knifeman Murders Six
A severely disturbed young man in Isla Vista, California, murdered six and wounded seven this weekend. He sought “retribution” for perceived social slights, mainly from women. Half of his victims were stabbed, others were shot and four of the wounded he hit with his car. Yet news reports refer to him only as a “gunman” in order to serve a political agenda. He used a knife, a car, a legally purchased handgun and he had only 10-round magazines (41 of them). Predictably, it took no time at all for shameless gun grabbers to call for action – against guns, not knives.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) lectured, “We must ask ourselves if an individual whose family called police with concerns about mental health, who is receiving therapy and who has had several run-ins with police should be allowed to own multiple firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.” Hindsight is 20/20, but the murderer passed a background check and even talked to police before his rampage – they found nothing worth acting on. So unless we’re going to start arresting people before they commit crimes, the best defense continues to be self-defense.
But that’s not Feinstein’s point, as even she went on to admit [emphasis added]: “When anyone, no matter their mental health or history, can so easily obtain any gun they want and as many as they want, we must recognize a problem. Unfortunately, the NRA continues to have a stranglehold on Congress, preventing even commonsense measures like universal background checks that have overwhelming support. Until that happens, we will continue to see these devastating attacks. Shame on us for allowing this to continue.” In Feinstein’s utopia, no one would have access to guns.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who was the face of the gun control push after Sandy Hook happened in his state, absurdly claimed that if Congress had only passed his gun control idiocy last year, we could have “finally” put a “stop to the madness” and “end the insanity that has killed too many young people.” He added, “I really since hope that this … unimaginable, unspeakable tragedy will provide an impetus to bring back measures that would keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people who are severely troubled or deranged like this young man was.”
As National Review recounts, however, “The bill to which Blumenthal refers would have made it illegal for gun owners to trade their firearms privately without undergoing a background check, prohibited magazines that held over ten rounds, and instituted a new ban on what politicians have termed ‘assault weapons’ – that is, standard rifles that boast certain cosmetic features. Blumenthal seems unaware that California not only has all of these rules already – and many more besides – but that the shooter, whom we will not name, broke none of them. Local police have confirmed that all of his guns were bought legally from licensed dealers; that he used only ten-round magazines (he purchased and loaded 41 of them); and that he went nowhere near a so-called ‘assault weapon,’ preferring to use three handguns. Pace Blumenthal, it remains the case that one cannot stop abominations with parchment barriers.”
The man’s family is reportedly “staunchly against guns” and “supports gun-control laws.” In fact, the family’s attorney says, “My client’s mission in life will be to try to prevent any such tragedies from happening again. This country, this world, needs to address mental illness and the ramifications from not recognizing these illnesses.”
In many ways, this latest mass murder belies deep-seated cultural problems. This young man grew up in a culture that trashes men and teaches them to take what gratification they can get (and are due) and move on. He hated women for denying what he thought was his right. If we look anywhere, it certainly shouldn’t be to the tools he used to commit his heinous last act; it should be to the cultural rot that created him.