Gun law didn’t help San Bernardino shooting victims

Another horrific mass murder and another Pavlovian response from President Barack Obama.

As in the past, the American left, aided by most of the news media, climbed its soapbox well before important details of the crime were known to assure us that it wasn’t a terrorist act and that it could have been prevented by more guns laws.

They were wrong on both counts. First, we now know the perpetrators were radicalized Islamists with terrorist connections, just like those who bombed Pan Am Flight 103, bombed the World Trade Center in 1993, bombed the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, perpetrated 9/11, bombed the Boston Marathon, murdered 13 service members at Fort Hood and slaughtered innocents in Paris. Does anyone see a pattern here?

Second, what about the guns used in San Bernardino? We’ve learned they were purchased legally in California, a state with gun laws among the most stringent in the country. In fact, the purchaser broke existing California law that requires use of a licensed gun dealer and background checks before transferring weapons privately.

That law, one that Obama dearly wants to invoke at the federal level, didn’t do much to help the San Bernardino victims, did it?

This story was originally published December 13, 2015 at 4:41 PM with the headline "Gun law didn’t help San Bernardino shooting victims."