Jonathan Hoffman: Liberals use a tragedy to push unconstitutional gun controls

A number of Democrat U.S. Congress members are calling for more of the same laws that did not prevent the disaster in the first place. A common call is for the extension of background check requirements beyond dealers to private sales because, you know, the perpetrator in the Las Vegas attack passed them all.

Hillary Clinton not only called for more of the same but used the opportunity to take a swipe at a bill now pending in Congress that would deregulate suppressors — what the anti-gun hysterics refer to as “silencers” even though they do not silence anything. Suppressors are the equivalent of mufflers on automobiles in both function and design. They are metal tubes with baffles that suppress the sound of the gun discharging.

This would be a good thing because people who shoot must wear hearing protection to avoid the risk of permanent hearing loss. Suppressors would help greatly in reducing that risk.

Hillary Clinton is not the only one who takes exception to the pending legislation.

Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus wrote an opinion piece recently published in the Star, headlined “Lawmakers must listen to law enforcement on dangerous gun bills.”

Chief Magnus believes that suppressors will make it hard for law enforcement to locate active shooters, who will then silently rush away in their cars equipped with mufflers. He also refers to suppressors as “silencers.” Perhaps Chief Magnus and Hillary Clinton get their talking points from the same source.

Chief Magnus went on to criticize another bill pending in the U.S. Congress that would make any state concealed carry permit in force in all states. Now, I am not a big fan of the federal government interfering with state business, and I’m sure that the legality of such a bill will end up being determined by a court, but we are talking about rights here, not policy, but rights that are enumerated in both the U.S. and Arizona Constitutions.

There are two other misconceptions upon which anti-gun people rest. They are that these mass murders involving guns are unique to America, and that restrictive European gun laws prevent such attacks. They are simply not true.

As a recent opinion piece by the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board, “The Gun Control Mirage,” pointed out, “According to John Lott’s Crime Prevention Research Center, most mass shootings with 15 or more casualties since 1970 took place outside the U.S., including France and Norway that strictly regulate guns.”

Recall the horrific attacks in Norway in 2011 when a single attacker exploded a bomb outside a building in Oslo killing eight, then proceeded to an island where he murdered 69 children at a summer camp. He had purchased the rifle and pistol legally.

Allow me to state an obvious but often unspoken fact (Snowflakes, this is a good time to go to your “safe spaces”). It is virtually impossible to prevent unpredictable random acts of criminal violence.

I don’t like it any more than you do, but reality cannot be wished away.