Right now, for whatever reason, violence is still spreading throughout our cities. Whether it’s because of COVID or the riots, or whatever, it’s an ugly situation.  What’s more, it ain’t shaping up to be any better in the near future so far as anyone can tell.

While some may claim that legal firearm purchases are driving the surge in violence, the truth is that the firearms being used are coming off the black market.

In Cincinnati, the feds seem to be trying to address some of the problem.

Seven years. If you’re a felon caught with a gun in Ohio, that’s how much longer your prison sentence could be if the charges against you are federal versus local.

Local law enforcement has partnered with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the ATF and the FBI to leverage this fact. On Monday, 16 indictments were announced, many in connection with recent shooting incidents.

This all comes in response to escalating gun violence. Cincinnati is on pace to see more than 100 homicides this year, more than any other year on record. Total shootings are up about 50% over last year as well.

For folks in Ohio, this is probably good news. After all, the maximum sentence under Ohio law would have been three years. Instead, those arrested are facing 10 years in the slammer for their role.

Of course, the announcement didn’t come with a description of just how these guns were obtained.

What we do know, though, is that none of these individuals were lawfully allowed to have a firearm.

The suspects, who all have felony convictions, are under grand jury indictment for crimes related to gun violence in the city, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio.

So, black market guns.

I know, I know, you’re as shocked as I am, aren’t you? I mean, criminals tend to be so law-abiding, yet here we have criminals breaking yet another law. Why, it’s almost like criminals break the law as a matter of definition or something.

Crazy, I know, but here we are.

Seriously, this shouldn’t surprise anyone. This is what criminals do.

Meanwhile, it seems the feds are making it clear that this won’t be the last set of arrests, either.

“This is just the first surge that we’ve done,” U.S. Attorney David DeVillers said at a joint news conference Monday. “We’re going to keep doing this until the violent crime goes down.”

One would assume this doesn’t just apply to Cincinnati, but pretty much anywhere that’s seeing a surge in violent crime. Frankly, if you’re getting violent criminals off the streets, that’s a good thing for everyone.

What we don’t want to see is people jammed up over BS weapons charges, people who actually don’t represent a threat to anyone. Yet that doesn’t seem to be the focus. Instead, it’s mostly people trading or using stolen firearms because they’re violent felons and can’t lawfully buy a gun. Then they go out and act like violent felons, then wonder why the system is working against them.

Let’s hope there are a lot more of them taken off the streets. Maybe then the stupid that’s sweeping the nation with regard to violence will come to an abrupt end.