Gun control activists claim that if everyone had to go through a criminal background check to buy a gun, that would somehow impact criminals and their access to firearms.

Nevermind that most seem to get theirs via the black market, of course, because that doesn’t matter. Nor does it matter how else criminals actually get guns.

Like straw buys.

A 35-year-old Indiana woman was charged in federal court Nov. 13, accused of lying during the purchase of firearms used in the Nov. 6 shooting of two police officers in the city of Delafield.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana, Heather Bentley of Warsaw, Indiana, purchased three firearms Nov. 4. Bentley certified that she was the actual buyer of the firearms, according to a news release from the court.

But according to authorities, Bentley bought the firearms on behalf of two men, who gave her more than $1,500 to purchase them. Bentley indicated that two individuals who were fleeing from police and who she knew to be felons had asked her to buy the guns, the news release noted.

“The charges in this case allege the defendant made a straw purchase, which is when a person acquires a firearm from a federal firearms licensee for someone else, who is either ineligible to purchase the firearm or wishes to conceal their identity,” said Kristen de Tineo, special agent in charge for the Chicago Field Division of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in a news release. “ATF will continue to investigate these serious violations, which put not only the community at risk, but, as illustrated in this complaint, law enforcement as well.”

Let’s be honest here, Bentley isn’t that unusual. Straw buys happen all the time. People who can’t legally purchase firearms get someone else to buy them guns. It’s a far too common occurrence, to be sure.

You’re also never going to stop it.

See, straw buying is already illegal. It’s a federal crime and land someone some serious prison time. Despite that, though, people still do it. Sometimes it’s for money, sometimes it’s because they’re stupid, or any of a million other reasons. None of those matter. What matters is that they still do it.

For as long as people are going to buy guns and others will be forbidden from doing so, some will for those who can’t. About the only law that will prevent straw buys is banning the sale of handguns entirely. It’s just too bad for anti-gunners that the Supreme Court has already nixed that.

That means something else will have to be considered.

Or, conversely, anti-gunners can start to realize that gun control doesn’t really work and perhaps spend their time doing something far more productive, like trying to teach lawnchairs to compose symphonies.

I’m not holding my breath on that happening, of course, but a guy can dream.

Instead, though, what we’ll see is anti-gunners use this to try to justify some kind of law that doesn’t actually impact these kinds of actions but instead just screw things up for the rest of us.