Lott: Gun control groups don't care what causes mass shootings

AP Photo/Matt Rourke

Everytown is suing just about everyone they can think of over the Buffalo mass shooting. They’re suing social media companies, a gun manufacturer, and even the company that makes body armor.

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In their mind, all are responsible for what someone not named in the lawsuit did, all despite no one having broken any laws.

It’s a reach in many cases, of course, but that won’t stop them from trying.

Yet when John Lott looks at what they’re doing, he sees something important.

The Biden administration has already put nearly 2,000 gun sellers out of business in just two years. Just a few years ago, a lawsuit helped drive the 200-year-old Remington Arms into bankruptcy. But activists won’t stop suing gun shops and anyone else that comes close to the industry.

Last week, attorneys from Everytown Law, the legal arm of Michael Bloomberg’s gun-control group Everytown for Gun Safety, filed a lawsuit against a shop that sold the gun used in the fatal shooting of 10 people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, in May 2022. The murderer is a racist who specifically targeted racial minorities. Everytown claims the attack “could have been prevented,” but in fact, the gun seller performed all of the proper background checks.

But the lessons from this shooting, like many other mass public shootings, are hiding in plain sight. One needs only to read the killer’s manifesto.

“Areas where CCW [carrying a concealed weapon] are outlawed or prohibited may be good areas of attack,” wrote the shooter. “Areas with strict gun laws are also great places of attack.”

But Everytown ignores those quotes. Nor does the organization mention that the Buffalo mass murderer self-identified as an “eco-fascist national socialist” and a member of the “mild-moderate authoritarian left.” The shooter expressed concern that minority immigrants have too many children and will damage the environment. “The invaders are the ones overpopulating the world,” he wrote. “Kill the invaders, kill the overpopulation and by doing so save the environment.”

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Lott then makes the case that if we’re going to play the blame game, his thoughts on climate change implicate people like the mainstream media and President Joe Biden. His anti-capitalist comments warrant a lawsuit against people like AOC and Bernie Sanders, among others.

In other words, his motivations are ignored all in the name of punishing people who literally had no reason to do anything differently than they had.

Yet the big takeaway is that the killer explicitly noted the role gun control played in his target selection. He wanted an area with strict gun control laws so as to minimize his chances of being taken out before he could slaughter as many people as possible.

He didn’t travel to Missouri or Texas or Georgia to carry out this attack, nor did he visit the much closer state of New Hampshire.

Instead, he opted for gun-controlled New York and says so explicitly.

That’s consistently ignored by groups like Everytown.

Yet it’s also a component in most mass shootings since more than 90 percent of them take place in gun-free zones.

But Everytown won’t acknowledge that fact because doing so would mean they have to acknowledge a downside to their efforts, which they’re pathologically incapable of doing.

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