Several times a day, I look at any number of firearms-related news stories. It’s a routine part of my job and as someone who is a news and politics junkie to some degree, it’s not a burden in the least. As such, though, I read a lot of stories that play out the same way over and over again. I don’t write all of them up here at Bearing Arms because, well, so many of them are the same thing you’ve read about over and over through the years.
Hey, I get bored too.
In reality, this story is kind of one of those, too.
Heraclio Pulido, 26, was arrested Monday at his Goleta home “as part of an ongoing investigation into criminal activities involving the suspect, who is on active County Probation,” said Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Raquel Zick.
During a search of Pulido’s home, authorities seized two Springfield 1911 pistols, a Glock .40 caliber pistol, an FN57 pistol, a Marlin .22LR rifle, a Mossberg pump action shotgun, a .357 revolver, and an AR15 rifle. They also found a methamphetamine pipe, prescription medication, methamphetamine, cocaine, a scale, and baggies.
Now, this is just another story of a criminal with a lot of guns. More than that, it’s a story of a well-armed criminal in California, a state known for its strict gun control policies.
Pulido is allegedly a drug dealer and guns are part of that culture, to be sure. But so is violence.
While reading this story, I was struck once again by how little the gun control laws in California stop people like Pulido. They’re not really much of an obstacle to folks like him.
Yet the good and decent people of the state? No, they’re barred from such weapons.
So then just how in the hell are those good and decent folks supposed to stand up to a monster who has weapons similar to Pulido?
Now, I’m not saying Pulido is a monster necessarily. He may or may not be. However, if he can get that kind of weaponry in a state with their gun control measures, surely others can as well.
Once again, the gun control laws in California have failed to stop bad people from getting guns.
Meanwhile, the law-abiding citizens are left with a small and dwindling selection of handguns to choose from, shotguns, and semi-automatic rifles that have been nerfed to such a point they’re all but useless for self-defense. They’re left with few options to defend themselves from the well-armed monsters that may surround them.
There’s nothing about that which is right and decent. Nothing at all.
Oh, lawmakers can claim that they’re combating violent crime all they want, but they’ve done nothing. Pulido got these guns without too much of a hassle. Others can, will, and have. They’ve done nothing to hurt the criminals. The bad guys are still doing what they want.
It’s the good, law-abiding folks who are left powerless before the tyranny of the thug. Instead of defending themselves, they have to hope that the police come swiftly and arrive before it’s time to draw chalk outlines around the bodies.
I’m sorry, but that’s no way to live.
