I’m always amazed at the number of people who take positions on guns without understanding the first thing about them. I shouldn’t be. Not at this point in my life, anyway, but I keep hoping people will turn out to be better than they are, that they’ll strive to learn more about a subject before articulating an opinion.

I also keep being disappointed.

A good example comes from a Boston Globe article celebrating a small-town mayor.

To be sure, it sounds like Central Falls Mayor James A. Diossa has done some good things, such as reigning in fiscal mismanagement and restoring people’s faith in government. However, Diossa was also asked about guns, and that’s where he betrays his ignorance.

On gun control: He said Rhode Island should pass gun control measures such as banning high-capacity magazines and prohibiting guns on public school grounds except for those carried by law enforcement — both measures he has supported as a member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

Here’s the disconnect: Mayors Against Illegal Guns should probably focus their attention on, you know, illegal guns. The measures Diossa is supporting have absolutely nothing to do with illegal guns. Those laws will only interfere with law-abiding citizens, not the criminals that routinely create threats for law-abiding citizens.

So-called high capacity magazines are useful to anyone with a semi-automatic firearm, not just criminals, but a ban will only take them out of the hands of the law-abiding. Criminals will continue to buy magazines from outside of the state–it’s not like Rhode Island is that hard to leave, after all–and it will put the bad guys at a distinct advantage.

As for firearms on school grounds, firearms were banned from campuses in Connecticut eight years ago. That didn’t stop a mad man from taking an AR-15 to Sandy Hook Elementary School, now did it?

Nor did it stop a maniac from taking one to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Nor did it stop another deranged gunman from taking two handguns to Virginia Tech.

In all these cases, guns were banned from school grounds, yet the deranged criminals brought them anyway. They ignored the law, which is unsurprising since they were already planning on ignoring the laws against murder. In the face of that kind of evil, what Diossa is suggesting is that we create more laws for these people to ignore and make it impossible for any law-abiding citizen to be prepared to meet such a threat.

What we don’t see here, but can reasonably assume, is that should such a situation take place in his realm, Diossa won’t look to the policies he supports and recognize the role they played in such a tragedy. Instead, he’ll lash out at gun rights activists, the firearm industry, the NRA, and everyone but the face staring back at him in the mirror.

So yeah, Diossa, like almost all anti-gunners, are ignorant. He’s the product of a biased media and Democratic Party politics. While the media may sing his praises, it’s clear that on guns, he doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about.