NY man arrested with "ghost guns" after shooting himself

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Gun control works, or so we’ve been told.

In New York, so-called ghost guns are banned. The statewide ban went into effect in February, which means, if gun control works, there are no unserialized firearms anywhere in the state of New York, right?

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OK, there are probably a few, but these untraceable firearms are banned, so clearly they’re in the hands of master criminals and professional assassins, right?

Or, you know…not.

A Long Island man was arrested for allegedly possessing ghost guns and ammunition after shooting himself in the hand.

The incident took place in Nassau County in Massapequa around 1:20 p.m., Saturday, April 2.

Gilraine was charged with:

  • Two counts of criminal possession of a firearm
  • Two counts of criminal possession of a weapon
  • Unlawful possession of a large capacity ammunition feeding device
  • Criminal possession of a weapon/Ammunition feeding device)
  • Manufacture of machine gun
  • Criminal possession of an assault weapon

He was arraigned on Sunday, April 3, in Hempstead.

Now, this is someone who managed to shoot themselves in the hand. A master criminal, he ain’t.

So, if gun control works, how did he get it?

The answer, of course, is that it doesn’t. It doesn’t keep bad guys from building so-called ghost guns, especially in the era of the 3D printer.

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Yet even without those being an option, criminals were getting firearms for decades without having access to such technology. Plus, as we learned recently, such firearms are used in less than half of one percent of all murders since 2016.

So not only are “ghost guns” not nearly the problem they’ve been made out to be by the media, but laws meant to prevent their creation fail spectacularly.

Let’s get a show of hands. How many people are surprised by this?

Wow. Either everyone’s arms are broken or no one. I’m betting on the latter.

The truth of the matter is, like all gun control, bans on so-called ghost guns don’t really do much of anything to actually stop criminals from obtaining such weapons. It just stops law-abiding hobbyists from pursuing their hobbies.

That’s literally all that’s accomplished.

What’s more, new laws won’t change that dynamic. Criminals are still going to get guns and good guys are still going to be the only ones obeying the laws.

It’s well past time for anti-gun jihadists to stop pretending “ghost guns” are some significant boogieman. They’re not. They’re not even all that popular, all things considered. Not based on the actual numbers we get when considered in context.

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Then again, since when has gun control policy been based on logic or reason? If it were, we’d have constitutional carry in all 50 states, and that would be the tip of the iceberg. Instead, we get laws like they have in New York that are so easy to skirt that the kind of guy who would shoot himself in the hand can break them easily enough.

Absolutely brilliant work, guys. If these laws didn’t impact real people, I’d ask what they’re going to do for an encore.

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