Many people claim that our problems with violence in this country are the result of easy access to guns. They think we need more gun control to curb that violence. Yet they never seem to explain just how making it more difficult for law-abiding citizens to buy guns will impact criminals.

It’s especially interesting because among the gun control laws we do have are the ones that limit who can buy a firearm based on age. Kids can’t buy guns.

So then, how did this happen:

A school resource officer for Carroll High School received information that a student on campus was in possession of a handgun. The resource officer was able to locate and take the student into custody. A handgun was found in his possession.

…

At approximately 11:00 AM on August 29, 2022, a tip was received that another student at Carroll Junior High, located at 2945 Renwick Street, was in possession of a weapon. The weapon was found in his backpack. The 14-year-old male student was immediately taken into custody and booked at Green Oaks Detention Center on weapon charges.

Both students were 14 years old.

Now, tell me where in the United States–or anywhere in the world, really–can two 14-year-old boys lawfully purchase firearms?

Obviously, the question is rhetorical because we all know that there’s no such place. There’s nowhere that these students could have obtained these guns lawfully. That means they got them unlawfully.

In other words, 14-year-old kids knew how to get guns, either through theft or via the black market.

How then could a new law have prevented them from doing so?

And let’s note that these kids were arrested at two different schools in the same town. This suggests there’s a potential issue there in Monroe, Louisiana where this happened. The fact that both were the same age, though one was in high school and the other in middle school may also play a factor.

Regardless, gun control failed to stop these students from getting guns in the first place, despite keeping guns out of kids’ hands being about the least controversial gun control law on the books.

That’s because, of course, no matter how much support a gun control law has, it doesn’t actually stop bad actors from getting guns. They’re criminals, even if they’re also students.

Which is fine. We know criminals break all sorts of laws.

Yet gun control regulations also inhibit the law-abiding. Laws against murder don’t impact me because I’m not inclined to murder. Laws against burglary don’t impact me because I’m not inclined to steal stuff. But gun control laws treat me like I’m a potential criminal, all while doing nothing to actually stop 14-year-old students from getting guns.

That is the problem, yet it’ll be ignored.

Luckily, neither of these two students was able to use the gun to hurt anyone. It’s unlikely they intended to hurt anyone, either. It’s far more likely they were just acting tough.

Well, now they’re about to see all the ways their life is going to get interesting because of that.