One of the fundamental disagreements between the two sides of the gun debate is whether or not restrictions on firearms actually do anything. After all, the anti-Second Amendment crowd isn’t interested in hearing about our rights, so we have to try something else with them.

Now, there’s really not a lot of evidence showing such laws work, and there’s reason to distrust literally all of them that do.

Then there’s the anecdotal evidence, such as this alleged drug-dealing gun trafficker in New York, where they have pretty strict gun control laws.

Prosecutors announced a 94-count indictment including the sale of fentanyl, heroin and firearms against a Washington Heights man on Wednesday following a year long investigation.

Rafael Figueroa allegedly conducted 11 separate drug sales and four separate firearms transactions  between August 2022 and January 2023, according to the investigation.

…

Investigators also seized over 1.5 kilograms of fentanyl, more than 75 grams of heroin valued at $142,000, three loaded handguns, a loaded assault rifle and three high-capacity ammunition feeding devices.

A popular response to the claim that gun laws keep firearms out of the hands of criminals is to point out how abysmally drug laws have failed to keep people from getting and using drugs. This guy is, according to the allegations, the living embodiment of that argument.

That’s because something I’ve learned is that a lot of people are going to do what they want to do. If there’s a legal pathway to do it, many will prefer that, but if there’s not, well, they’ll still do it. It’s why prostitution, along with guns and drugs, is still a booming business in many places despite laws against it.

So banning something or even just heavily restricting it doesn’t actually stop most people.

The reason you don’t have more of this, though, is because even in New York, there’s still a pathway for lawful gun ownership for most people.

For those who can’t buy one legally, though, someone will supply to meet the demand, and there will always be a demand from criminals of various types.

Even if guns were banned completely and totally–something that’s never going to happen so long as the Second Amendment still exists–these same people will still get guns. How do I know this? Because this guy had fentanyl and heroin. He had no avenue to get those lawfully, which means they likely came into the country explicitly for the illicit drug trade.

Does anyone think guns can’t come in the same way?

If you do, go back to whatever school you went to and demand a refund for whatever funds were intended to educate you. You should also carry around a plant so you have someone to apologize to for stealing all that oxygen.

People who don’t abide by the law aren’t going to be restricted by the law. It’s as simple as it gets, and when that comes to firearms, that means all the restrictions in the world aren’t going to stop the bad guys from being armed bad guys.