15-year-old's attempted murder charge and gun control

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We’ve been told that gun control works, which is why we need more of it. Yet, if it works, how is it that we need more of it in the first place?

After all, among many things currently on the books are laws that prohibit the sale of firearms to children. No one under 18 can lawfully buy any kind of firearm and no one under 21 can buy a handgun.

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Yet a 15-year-old’s attempted murder charge suggests those laws aren’t working worth a damn.

A 15-year-old boy allegedly opened fire on a McDonald’s employee during a robbery attempt outside the Florida fast food restaurant early Thursday, cops said.

Demarion Wilson, of Mulberry, approached the fast food worker at about 1:30 a.m. outside the McDonald’s at 1805 Shepherd Road in Lakeland and fired off three shots, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.

The teen allegedly pointed a 9mm Glock he stole from his stepfather at the frightened employee.

The worker tried to tell the would-be robber that he only had $30 on him and that the money inside the restaurant was already secured and inaccessible.

During the attempted mugging, the manager of the store pulled up to the parking lot with her husband.

The employee then pleaded for help, asking the manager to call 911.

Police said that’s when Wilson fired three times, with one bullet striking the vehicle before he ran off. Luckily, no one was injured by the gunshots.

He was found and charged with attempted murder for, you know, trying to shoot and kill someone.

Yet we need to understand that under no set of circumstances could he have obtained this firearm lawfully. It just can’t happen under our current gun control laws.

Yet, he had a gun.

A handgun.

“Yeah, but he stole it from his stepfather.” You’re right, he did. And?

Stealing a gun is, after all, illegal.

I’m sure someone will claim that mandatory storage laws would have prevented that, but if you think that, you’re deluding yourself. The same kid who stole a gun and tried to commit armed robbery would likely have had no difficulty stealing the key that secured the gun.

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This isn’t rocket science, folks.

The truth of the matter is that no matter how you slice it, people inclined to do bad things will do bad things. You’re not likely to stop it.

“Then why have any laws at all? If you’re going to claim people will just break them, why not legalize murder?”

Yes, this is a very real line of questioning.

However, I’d note that this ignores the fact that gun control works against law-abiding citizens at the same time it does nothing to stop criminals.

It’s not so much that the criminals will break the law as the fact that such laws dictate what ordinary people can do with regard to their own firearms. As a result, these laws put our lives in danger, all for a situation where it does nothing to inhibit the criminals they’re allegedly targeting.

This is a 15-year-old kid who tried to kill someone.

If you think gun control laws would stop him, why didn’t the laws against trying to kill someone?

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