President Joe Biden used the shooting in San Jose on Thursday that left nine people dead (not including the suspect who took his own life) to demand that the Senate take action on a pair of background check bills already approved by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives. In a statement, Biden referenced recent shootings, including the grocery store shooting in Boulder, Colorado and the attack at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis before calling on lawmakers to embrace his anti-gun agenda.

“We are still awaiting many of the details of this latest mass shooting, but there are some things we know for sure. There are at least eight families who will never be whole again,” Biden said in the statement before the ninth death was announced. “There are children, parents, and spouses who are waiting to hear whether someone they love is ever going to come home. There are union brothers and sisters — good, honest, hardworking people — who are mourning their own.

“Enough,” he said.

“Once again, I urge Congress to take immediate action and heed the call of the American people, including the vast majority of gun owners, to help end this epidemic of gun violence in America. Every life that is taken by a bullet pierces the soul of our nation. We can, and we must, do more.”

Of course, Biden didn’t explain how either of the background check bills bottled up in the Senate would have prevented the San Jose shooting, because he can’t. California already has a universal background check law like the one approved by the House, along with a ten-day waiting period for all gun sales, background checks on ammunition purchases, a “may issue” licensing system for concealed carry, and a host of other restrictions on legal gun owners, and none of them prevented this shooting.

Biden isn’t the only gun control advocate ignoring the fact that California has the most restrictive gun laws in the nation.

One of the most basic roles of government is to protect citizens.
The United States Senate is epically failing at that.

— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) May 26, 2021

Even if the Senate had approved the universal background check bill passed by the House earlier this year, it wouldn’t have made a difference here.

Of course, gun control activists aren’t arguing in good faith here. They’re simply trying to repeat their talking points, even if they make no sense whatsoever.

The fact that law enforcement couldn't act fast enough to save lives despite being a literal stone's throw away, in a county that basically doesn't grant CCW permits unless you bribe them, isn't the argument against public carry you seem to think it is. https://t.co/RzD8p6yrNf

— Amy Swearer (@AmySwearer) May 26, 2021

California has dozens of gun control laws on the books that proponents say will stop attacks like the one in San Jose from taking place, but each and every one of them offer false hope and empty promises of public safety. Lawmakers have expanded the state’s red flag law to allow employers to petition the courts to have guns seized from individuals; they’ve banned the possession of so-called ghost guns, “assault weapons,” and ammunition magazines that can hold more than ten rounds; and they’ve had handgun registration requirements in place for more than twenty years.

In other words, California’s gun control laws are already far more restrictive than anything passed by the House this year, yet gun control activists and the president himself are pretending that a federal universal background check requirement would have stopped this shooting from taking place.

As Joe Biden said in his statement; “enough.” Enough with the lies about gun control making us safer. Enough with the spin that the gun lobby is to blame. Enough with the idea that we can ban our way to safety.

Enough, already. California is all the evidence we need to know that the gun control laws Biden wants to put in place at the federal level won’t stop these kinds of attacks, and that police can’t provide an instantaneous response, no matter how close they might be to the scene of the crime. We know that armed citizens can stop mass shootings, just as we know that murderous madmen don’t care about violating gun control laws or taking a firearm into a gun-free zone.

Joe Biden’s right when he says that we don’t have all of the details of the shooting in San Jose, but we have enough facts to know that his opportunistic call for more gun control is based on a false premise and an empty promise. Enough of the lies. Enough of the spin. You want to save lives? Ensure that good people have the ability to protect themselves from a bad guy with a gun.