The recent Sacramento church shooting captures everything about the failure and futility of gun control. As Tom Knighton has discussed, we already know that the shooter was legally prohibited from owning any guns. He was under a domestic violence restraining order set to expire in 2026, had been told that he could not own any guns, and had been ordered to attend anger management classes. He was allowed to only have supervised visitations with his children in a church: a gun-free zone.

None of that prevented what happened. To add to the above, it turns out that the killer was in the country illegally.

Gunman who killed 3 daughters in church was in US illegally

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The gunman who killed his three daughters, a chaperone who was supervising his visit with the children and himself in a Northern California church this week was in the United States illegally, immigration officials said Friday.

Illegal immigrants are prohibited from owning guns. Even persons legally in the United States on a non-immigrant visa (e.g., work, tourism, student, etc.) are typically not allowed to own guns unless they meet specific conditions. I have immigrant friends who patiently waited 15+ years to get their green cards before buying their first gun. Many wait even longer until after becoming naturalized citizens to buy their first gun just to have 0% room for doubt and run-ins with the law.

David Mora, 39, overstayed his visa after entering California from his native Mexico on Dec. 17, 2018, on a non-immigrant visitor visa, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Alethea Smock told The Associated Press.

She didn’t say when his visa expired. But because he overstayed his visa, ICE asked to be notified when he was released from jail last week after he was arrested in Merced County for assaulting a California Highway Patrol officer.

The Merced County Sheriff’s Office told the AP that under California’s so-called sanctuary state law, it does not notify immigration officials about in-custody people who are being released, and ICE was never notified. The 2017 state law restricts local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal officials except when immigrants are accused of very serious crimes.

So, there you have it. The shooter was an illegal immigrant and would have been deported if he had been turned over to ICE. But thanks to California Democrats, he got to stay in the country instead.

It’s appalling enough that California Democrats passed a “sanctuary” law to protect the conjured rights of foreign nationals to violate U.S. immigration law, but what makes it worse is that they relentlessly assault the natural right of American citizens to keep and bear arms. Mag bans, gun bans, carry bans, over-broad definitions of sensitive places – you name it, they’ve done it.

Now that their legislative misdeeds have borne the Sacramento shooter’s misdeed, they will absolutely change the subject. Gavin Newsom tweeted this after the killing:

Another senseless act of gun violence in America – this time in our backyard. In a church with kids inside. Absolutely devastating.

Our hearts go out to the victims, their families and their communities.

We are working closely with local law enforcement.

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) March 1, 2022

After Biden’s lie-ridden State of the Union speech, Newsom piled on with this own lies and spin:

With @POTUS joining California in the fight to take on irresponsible gun manufacturers, we will hold them accountable and save lives.

Their greed has helped fuel countless deaths. https://t.co/uchxQvAGlb

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) March 2, 2022

Now that we’ve found out that the shooter was in the country illegally and ought to have been handed over to ICE for deportation, Gavin Newsom hasn’t said a word about his state’s sanctuary law.

What has happened though is that The Associated Press got details of the unserialized firearm used in the crime, and changed the headline and the content of the article to focus on “ghost guns” instead of California Democrats’ aiding and abetting of illegal immigration.

You can compare the old and new versions of the article yourself.

Old article: “Gunman who killed 3 daughters in church was in US illegally” (Link)

New article: Man used ‘ghost gun’ to kill 3 daughters in church (Link)

The gunman who killed his three daughters, a chaperone who was supervising his visit with the children and himself in a Northern California church this week was armed with an unregistered “ghost gun,” authorities said Friday.

David Mora, 39, was armed with a homemade semiautomatic rifle-style weapon. He had an illegal 30-round ammunition magazine and 17 bullets were fired, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said.

Mora was under a restraining order that barred him from possessing a firearm and authorities do not know how or when he obtained it.

The Associated Press also interviewed an immigration lawyer who had this to say:

Grisel Ruiz, supervising attorney for the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, said gun control and domestic violence appear to be the central issues in the killings, while immigration status had no bearing.

“Regretfully, we’ve seen tragic incidents politicized in the past, resulting in misguided policies targeting immigrants, which in turn make it harder for immigrant survivors to actually get the help that they need,” she said.

The failure of gun control is lost upon the lawyer, so is the fact that the Gun Grab Lobby repeatedly politicizes tragic incidents to push their gun control agenda. 

I’m expecting California Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media to change the subject and start talking about “ghost guns” even though they’re regulated in California. Some things just don’t change.