It’s been about a day since the escaped murder convict Danelo Cavalcante was taken into custody. Cavalcante had been convicted of stabbing his girlfriend Deborah Brandão 38 times in front of her two young children in Pennsylvania in April 2021. Cavalcante was in the country illegally, having escaped from his native Brazil where he is wanted in another 2017 homicide case. 

Of course, because the murder weapon in the Cavalcante case was a knife, gun control groups never said a word about it despite their supposed concern for women in domestic violence cases. But there was another case in Maryland over Labor Day weekend that they pounced on right away (archived links):

Another heartbreaking tragedy because of our gun violence epidemic.

Rosa Maria Benitez-Ozuna was killed by a roommate with a ghost gun. Police had been to the house multiple times due to the suspect’s violent behavior.

Our hearts are with Rosa’s family.https://t.co/ClhzE9We7Q

— GIFFORDS (@GIFFORDS_org) September 13, 2023

Giffords’ linked article has more details (archived links):

Ghost gun used in Layhill triple shooting that killed 65-year-old woman, police allege
A 23-year-old Layhill man used a ghost gun in a triple shooting on Labor Day that killed his housemate—a 65-year-old woman—and injured her husband and his own mother.
By Courtney Cohn

A 23-year-old Layhill man used a ghost gun in a triple shooting on Labor Day that killed his housemate—a 65-year-old woman—and injured her husband and his own mother, according to officials.

Manuel Alejandro Ayala has been arrested in the death of Rosa Maria Benitez-Ozuna, 65, who lived in the same Punch Street house as Ayala, according to Montgomery County Police and charging documents from the county State’s Attorney’s Office.  

Ayala’s mother had sought a peace order against him in May after he allegedly engaged in violent and erratic behavior, according to the charging documents. They had quarreled Monday evening about him being kicked out, documents show.

Ayala was charged this week with first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder and felony use of a firearm in a violent crime. 

[…]

Officers, who knew Ayala from previous calls to the house, found him outside, carrying a 9mm handgun in one pocket and an empty magazine in the other, according to charging documents. He told police the weapon was a ghost gun that he had ordered online about a year ago, documents show. He was taken into custody without incident, police said. 

An investigating officer found a peace order that the mother had sought in May, which alleged that Ayala “has assaulted people in the residence, punches holes in the walls and ‘destroys’ everything in the house,” according to the charging documents.

The case involves a clearly violent man against whom his own mother sought an order of protection. That piece of paper didn’t do anything as usual. But what about the “ghost gun”?

Here’s a flashback from last year (archived links): 

Ghost gun ban takes effect in Maryland
Maryland joins 10 other states and D.C. that already have similar legislation in place.
By Rafael Sanchez-Cruz

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland is the latest state to action against a growing problem that has school and state officials worried: ghost guns. A law  banning the purchase, transfer, or sale of any firearm or unfinished frame or receiver that is not imprinted with a serial number in accordance with federal law went into effect on Wednesday.

[…]

As a part of the ghost gun ban in Maryland, no one in the state may posses one of these weapons by March 1, 2023.  

What came of that ban? Absolutely nothing, other than infringing the traditional rights of the people to make their own guns, which has existed since before the Founding.

Tom pointed out the stupidity of the Maryland law last year, writing: 

The vast majority of criminals have found ways to skirt existing gun laws as things currently stand. They’ve been doing it for decades and there’s no reason to believe that a restriction on unserialized firearms would possibly make even a dent in the violent crime rate in Maryland.

[…]

I mean, there have only been 325 murders tied to so-called ghost guns since 2016. We had more than five times as many murders with knives in 2020 alone.

Tom also wrote about how a US Marshal called out the uselessness of the ghost gun ban.

Clearly, the testimony against the legislation fell on deaf ears. As was predicted, the ban accomplished absolutely nothing. The incident that Giffords pounced on still happened. But the young suspect in this case could have still killed the older, physically weaker victims without a gun, unserialized or serialized, as we saw in the Danelo Cavalcante case. Giffords shouldn’t be exploiting this tragedy, but shamelessness is part and parcel of their strategy.