VICTOR JOECKS: California’s strict gun control laws didn’t stop the Saugus school shooting

If gun control efforts worked as advertised, California wouldn’t have suffered a school shooting last week.

Last Thursday, a student opened fire at Saugus High School, north of Los Angeles. The shooter killed two students, wounded three others and fatally shot himself. The attack took 16 seconds.

It took only a bit longer for gun grabbers to blame this tragedy on Republicans for not passing gun control laws.

Living in fear of gun violence “is our reality because (President Donald) Trump, (Senate Majority Leader Mitch) McConnell and their Senate allies have done nothing to change it,” said Gabby Giffords, who co-founded the eponymous gun-control group Giffords.“It’s been 260 days since the House of Representatives passed the Bipartisan Background Checks Act. How many more deaths will happen before they sign that lifesaving legislation into law?”

But the murders at Saugus High School reveal that universal background checks don’t stop school shootings. States can mandate universal background checks. On Giffords’ own website, it lists California as a state that requires “universal background checks” for all classes of firearms.

This context shows Giffords’ claim is nonsense. California has universal background checks. California had a school shooting. Congress passing universal background checks wouldn’t have done anything to stop this killer.

Even if you support gun confiscation, this logic should be obvious. But Giffords is more interested in scoring political points than stopping gun violence. She’s not the only one.

“America is sacrificing a generation to the devastating effects of gun violence because our leaders in Washington lack the will to save lives,” Democrat Pete Buttigieg tweeted. “We must act.”

“Prayers aren’t enough,” former Vice President Joe Biden tweeted. “We need real gun reform to make our schools safer.”

California already has hundreds of gun control laws on the books, including an “assault” weapons ban. It requires a background check to buy ammunition. Last month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed 15 new anti-gun bills, including an expansion of the state’s red flag laws.

These laws didn’t stop the shooting. Neither did the law banning firearm possession by a minor. Or the law making it illegal to bring a firearm to school. Or the law against murder. He did it anyway. Turns out that people who are willing to kill in cold blood aren’t known to be law-abiding. Passing another gun law doesn’t fix that problem.

Even failed presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke’s call to confiscate AR-15s wouldn’t have made a difference. The shooter used a .45-caliber, semi-automatic pistol.

This tragedy wasn’t even the worst shooting in California over the past week. On Sunday, two gunmen used semi-automatic handguns to shoot a group of men watching football at a Fresno house. Four men died and six were wounded.

Incidents like these should cause gun control advocates to re-evaluate their assumptions. Instead, they’re insisting that shootings in California show why the country should pass gun control policies that have failed in California.

Contact Victor Joecks at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on Twitter.