New York, like a few other states, immediately responded to the existence of homemade firearms–so-called ghost guns–by doing what comes naturally to them. They banned them.

However, that ban was never really going to do anything because that ship has set sail. So long as people can get parts, people can build their own guns no matter what the state says about it. With a ban in place, though, the pretty much only people who are going to do it are the very people you don’t want doing it.

Like every other form of gun control on the planet.

In Queens, we can see just what sort of people we’re (allegedly) talking about.

Two brothers who kept a “human sacrifice” hit list of cops, judges, politicians, celebrities and “banker scum” were nabbed with an arsenal of homemade bombs and ghost guns in their family’s Queens apartment, prosecutors said Monday.

Wannabe anarchists Andrew Hatziagelis, 39, and his 51-year-old brother, Angelo, were hit with a 130-count indictment after cops and federal agents seized a cache of weapons that included “improvised” explosive devices, body armor and a collection of AR-15-style and 9mm ghost guns.

The pair also allegedly scribbled “hit list” on a scrap of notebook paper that included a list of potential targets that also listed “corporate scum.”

“Wipe out the scum,” the disturbing note said. “Wipe out the earth,” with the lines marked as “chorus – hit list.

“Human sacrifices,” a written rant on a separate page said. “Permitable but only for the corrupt rapists, pedophiles, murderers, politicians, judges.”

I mean, some of the targets on that list could probably be listed under community service, but it’s still murder and still illegal.

There were a total of two completed “ghost guns” recovered at the scene, but in addition to the already banned firearms were a number of homemade bombs, which are also illegal.

For all the laws in place, none of them seemed to do much to stop either of these guys, now did they?

Queens DA Melinda Katz posted on X, formerly Twitter:

An arsenal of homemade bombs and ghost guns was found in an Astoria apartment.

We cannot measure the number of lives that were saved, but we do know that these weapons will never hurt anyone.

Two brothers each face 25 years in prison. https://t.co/ClBp0gKmed pic.twitter.com/VAOGAt8xSN

— Queens DA Katz (@QueensDAKatz) January 29, 2024

Judging from that picture, it’s pretty clear that New York’s efforts to prevent “ghost guns” is a dismal failure. So far as has been reported, neither of the brothers was a felon or had a history of criminal activity to speak of, yet they were able to get their hands on the materials to create these guns without too much apparent difficulty.

This is what we warned people would happen when they started banning homemade firearms. It was never going to stop the bad actors from building guns. It simply prevented good guys from doing it for fun.

In this case, a couple of would-be terrorists were able to circumvent the law that keeps hobbyists from being able to lawfully do what they’d been doing for a while without issue.

How many different ways do we need to show that gun control doesn’t actually work? This is just the latest example, and let’s also remember what else these two knobs had: Explosives.

Even if the guns were gone, they still had accumulated weapons that would kill any number of people.

You cannot remove evil by trying to remove the tools evil might use, especially if good uses the same tools.

“Ghost gun” bans did nothing to prevent this. We’re not shocked in the least by that news, either.