Over and over, we’re told we need to do something about ghost guns. After all, gun control fans tell us, these allow criminals to build their own firearms and completely bypass gun control laws currently on the books.

Never mind the fact that there seems to be no legislative will to go after criminals who attempt to purchase guns from dealers, nor any real effort to crack down on straw buyers. Oh no, none of that matters. What matters most are ghost guns.

Then again, most anti-gunners generally only want the police to have access to any kind of firearm.

So what about when it’s the police selling ghost guns?

A former New York City DEC police sergeant will spend 10 years behind bars for selling a “ghost guns” to an outlaw motorcycle club member who was also a Middletown firefighter.

Gregg Marinelli, 39, of Plattekill, confessed in Dec. 2019 to selling the untraceable weapon to Paul Smith, who was then a city of Middletown Fire Department lieutenant, according to Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler.

Officials say the gun, which resembled a semi-automatic Glock pistol, was one of many Marinelli made with no serial numbers at his Plattekill home. Marinelli was accused of manufacturing dozens of handguns and assault rifles, including at least one fully automatic assault rifle, and selling them to individuals who are legally barred from possessing such weapons.  They say he sometimes delivered the illegal weapons using his marked police car.

“I am enraged that a police officer would sell exactly the types of weapons that are used to kill innocent people, including police officers,” said District Attorney Hoovler. “The types of ‘ghost’ guns which were recovered in this case are valuable to criminals precisely because they are difficult to trace.  A police officer who alerts an armed drug dealer who has proudly proclaimed his status as [an] ‘outlaw’ motorcycle club member, that he is the subject of police investigation, not only compromises that investigation, but puts his fellow police officers at risk.”

Now, here’s something to consider. If ghost guns are so unregulated that we need to ban them, then just how was this officer arrested and convicted in the first place?

Or maybe, just maybe, making guns for sale without proper licensing is already illegal, as is selling guns to criminals?

I know, it sounds crazy, but maybe that should also imply to some folks that criminals building guns is also illegal?

I’m just putting that out there. I know, that must be absolute crazy talk, but there it is. Hell, the guy built a fully automatic weapon, which is already illegal to build without those special licenses, and you damn sure can’t sell one of those legally.

Maybe, just maybe, the issue here is that gun control laws don’t actually stop criminals from doing things. Instead, they just interfere with law-abiding citizens who may want to exercise their Second Amendment rights. Yes, that also includes those who may want to buy machine guns for whatever reason.

That’s the thing about exercising your rights. You shouldn’t have to explain why you want to exercise your rights, which includes buying machine guns.

Yet currently, you can’t. Not legally, and yet we have a former police officer sentenced for doing just that.

If you can’t see how gun laws aren’t really effective after this story, there’s probably not any hope for you.