In the wake of the Bruen decision, numerous states started passing new concealed carry restrictions. They took the Supreme Court’s comments about sensitive places and decided that just about everywhere was a sensitive place. Sure, the Court warned them not to do that, but since the law just effectively makes everything sensitive but doesn’t do it explicitly, they figure they can get away with it.

And this is a number of places such as New York, Maryland, and now California.

South Carolina isn’t one of those states, though, which is relevant only because of what’s going on in Columbia.

You see, officials there are asking gun owners to be a lot more careful with their firearms because there’s a bit of an issue.

Over the past few weeks, Richland County has had a series of violent gun-related crimes that sadly resulted in people losing their life. According to law enforcement, many of these types of crimes are committed by illegal or stolen weapons.

Just days ago, it was reported there were around 100 car break-ins in Columbia at 3 separate apartment complexes. No firearms were stolen in these specific car break-ins but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen.

Irmo Police Lieutenant, Andrea Grinstead says ‘People who cannot legally possess or purchase a firearm will go through these cars, sometimes by force but most of the time they’re just shaking door handles to see if they left their vehicle unlocked and whatever firearm you leave in there they’re going to take.’

I’ve written repeatedly about communities having issues with people stealing guns out of cars. Many of those guns are then used in violent crimes, many of which are homicides.

“What does that have to do with carry restrictions?” someone might ask, and I’m glad they did.

You see, in the states when these new, expansive concealed carry restrictions, people who carry a firearm lawfully will find themselves running into situations where they can’t legally have their gun inside of a business or building. If they’ve got a gun on their person, they’re left with two choices. They either leave their weapon in the car or they break the law and hope they don’t get caught.

Many will opt to leave the gun in the car…which means if someone breaks into that car, they get themselves a gun.

Yes, there are ways to mitigate that–vehicle-mounted safes, for example–but those are expensive and not something most are likely to think about.

Now, if more guns are being left in vehicles because of new carry restrictions and criminals figure this out, is it hard to imagine that we’re going to see more guns end up in criminal hands as a direct result of these laws?

It’s really not, and yet gun control advocates think this kind of thing makes us safer.

I fail to see how potentially arming legions more criminals will make anyone safer, but it’s not unusual for these folks to fail to consider the second-order effects of their anti-Second Amendment laws.