Officer Brian Moore of the New York Police Department was slain recently. Demetrius Blackwell has been arrested and charged. That event is a personal tragedy for Mr. Moore’s family, as well as a tragic example of the violence some individuals in our society are all too willing to commit.
Like the people at the organization Everytown for Gun Safety, the membership and leadership of GeorgiaCarry.Org extend our sympathies and prayers to the family of Officer Moore, and indeed to all those killed by senseless violence such as this.
Unfortunately, Everytown (backed by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg) wants to use this tragedy to push its gun control agenda. The two simply have nothing to do with one another. Mr. Blackwell reportedly used a stolen gun. Whoever originally stole the gun from its rightful owner and merchant in Perry broke the law. The cascade of law-breaking, of course, continued from there.
Mr. Blackwell at some point allegedly acquired stolen property, also a crime. He is accused of subsequently using that stolen property to shoot Officer Moore. Mr. Blackwell, and potentially others, face charges of the most serious of crimes that violate free citizens’ basic rights to life, liberty and property. Everytown fails to explain, and indeed cannot offer even a rational explanation, how more gun control laws could possibly be relevant to this tragedy.
The reality is that as long as there is property of any kind, including guns, people will steal it and sometimes put it to nefarious use. People of good character who intend to do right don’t usually steal the property of others to do it. Violent people willing to murder others, committing crimes worthy of a lifetime in jail or worse, are not concerned with additional misdemeanors or lesser felonies.
Mr. Blackwell already had a history of violent crimes and was prohibited by law from possessing a firearm. What other laws do we need?
The state of Georgia is not an exporter of a “crime gun.” The thief who stole it and transported it was. The licensed firearm dealer from whom this gun was stolen was and is required by federal law to conduct background checks, or to verify the identity of a firearms license holder, for every gun it sells. GeorgiaCarry is quite sure the dealer would have been happy to do so had a legitimate customer come into the store during regular business hours to lawfully purchase the firearm.
Georgia’s House Bill 60 became law years after the gun used in this crime was stolen. The bill primarily addressed the locations in the state where lawful gun owners with Georgia weapons licenses may carry their weapons. It was, and is, completely unrelated to the tragedy that happened in New York.
The reality is, Mr. Bloomberg and his groups simply do not like guns. Unfortunately for them, there is enshrined in our nation’s Constitution a fundamental right for free citizens of this country to own and carry arms. They disagree with that policy choice made by our Founders and maintained until the present.
If we choose to begin to punish law-abiding people for unlawful and harmful uses by restricting the free access of citizens to lawful materials, then we may soon start with restricting the access of people like Everytown and GeorgiaCarry to the free access to ink and paper, wherein free people exchange ideas.
GeorgiaCarry.org believes it is Everytown’s right to propagate its ideas, and we appreciate the opportunity to propagate ours in an open forum. We have the utmost trust in free citizens to evaluate for themselves the quality of those ideas.
Kelly Kennett is president of GeorgiaCarry.org.
About the Author
