Any time we claim that gun control is about disarming the law-abiding citizen, some gun control supporter will say that no, it’s nothing of the sort. He or she will say that they don’t want to take our guns or keep us from buying new ones. They just want to keep guns out of criminals’ hands, and that’s why they support whatever law they’re currently supporting.

Yes, I know it’s BS too, but that’s what they say.

For a number of them, though, they mean it. Some gun grabbers don’t want to take our guns. They genuinely think new laws will stop criminals from getting those guns while not preventing us from exercising our Second Amendment rights.

A recent case, however, proves just how ridiculous that belief really is.

They were an unlikely duo: An aerospace engineer with a government security clearance and a house in the suburbs, and a gun-toting crack dealer whose purported motto was “always be ready to shoot.”

But together, according to court documents, Leonard J. Laraway and Bobby Perkins, Jr. created a pipeline of illegal guns running from suburban Virginia to cities across the mid-Atlantic region.

Scores of guns linked to the men have been recovered by police in recent years, most of them from Washington, D.C., according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Virginia. Guns sold by Perkins have been “tied to three different homicides,” including the slaying of his own cousin, federal prosecutors allege.

…

The prosecutions of Laraway and Perkins offer a glimpse into the world of unlicensed gun dealing, a common source of weapons used by criminals, officials say, but one that is frustratingly difficult to police. Unlicensed dealers sell weapons without conducting background checks on prospective buyers, making them a go-to source for people unable to pass those checks. The no-questions-asked nature of such sales can make the future path of the weapon difficult to predict.

Like many unlicensed dealers, Laraway seemed an unlikely suspect when he came under scrutiny by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, better known as ATF.

He earned a six-figure salary as an engineer with the Defense Contract Management Agency and was pursuing a second master’s degree at the prestigious U.S. Naval War College.

He also ran a thriving side business as a black-market gun dealer, according to authorities.

Laraway bought guns at licensed stores, snapped pictures of them, then posted them on gun sales websites with a brief description — and an inflated price.

Now, let’s keep a few things in mind.

Laraway was an otherwise law-abiding person. He’d passed background checks for all of the guns he purchased. Hell, he had a top secret clearance, which requires a background check well beyond what anyone is suggesting for gun buyers.

He still turned around and sold those guns illegally. He knew what he was doing. The inflated price is a red flag.

“Oh, but universal background checks will end that,” someone might say.

To them, I say they’re an idiot.

Laraway was already breaking laws and knew he was doing it, too. The inflated price meant Laraway knew he was likely to get only people who had no choice but to buy from him. Otherwise, they’d go to the store and buy it for the same price he did.

Look, there are two kinds of criminals. There are those who’ve been caught and those who haven’t.

While we can stop those who have been caught from buying guns from law-abiding dealers, there’s no way to stop people like Laraway. There’s no way to prevent them from buying guns from law-abiding FFL holders and selling them to criminals except to outlaw the sale of all firearms, period. Many gun control activists claim that’s not what they want, yet that’s the only way to stop this kind of thing from happening.

And that wouldn’t stop illegal gun sales. It’ll just prevent the law-abiding citizen from being able to purchase a firearm to defend themselves.

Frankly, while many other gun control activists think that would be Utopia, I shudder to think of just how wrong they would be.