The state of Connecticut isn't exactly a pro-gun mecca. 

They have numerous anti-gun regulations that would never fly in Texas, Georgia, or a whole lot of other places. It's a state that fully embraces gun control and is eager to embrace more of it.

Yet if what anti-gunners tell us is true, then Connecticut shouldn't have any problems at all with so-called gun violence.

Except, they clearly do.

Remembering a life cut short by gun violence in Hartford. Family and friends came together at a vigil Saturday for a woman who was shot and killed early Friday morning. Police say 23-year-old Shamyria Williams was an “unintended target.”

“My baby. She was precious. She was my precious jewel.”

A jewel Lacrisha Williams held dear to her heart, now gone. She and other family members mourning the death of her daughter. Hartford Police say Williams was shot and killed in a shooting on Cleveland Avenue early Friday morning. A man was also left injured. Her mother says they were celebrating the Fourth of July during that time.

...

It’s especially painful for Lacrisha Williams. Not only losing her daughter, her brother, Jeremy Williams, was killed in Hartford back in February of 2010. The trail in that homicide case still cold.

“Put the guns down. Stop the violence. Stop it. You all took my baby. You all took my brother. That’s it,” she said.

I can't even begin to imagine what Williams is going through, having lost two family members to gun violence.

That's hard for anyone.

Yet let's also remember, once again, that Connecticut is an anti-gun state. They're one of only a handful of states that got an "A" from Giffords back in December.

And a quick glance at the CDC's homicide mortality rate would suggest that the gun control laws there work.

At least, they would until you remember a few things. One is that Idaho, Utah, North Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, New Hampshire, and Maine all had fewer homicides while having more permissive gun laws. Things aren't that simple by any stretch of the imagination.

Economics often drives violent crime, but Connecticut doesn't get a pass there since it ranks in the top ten for the highest median household income in the nation.

For the Williams family, none of this matters. They've been touched by violent crime yet again and absolutely none of the laws--the laws Giffords wanted to celebrate--did anything to prevent it.

It's easy to look at this and think that more needs to be done, and you wouldn't be wrong.

The issue is that the something that needs to be done is something we can't seem to get to because too many people are too invested in pushing an anti-gun agenda. It didn't stop this tragedy from happening and it's not likely to anywhere else. Criminals don't obey gun laws, for crying out loud. You aren't going to make them do so.

If we want to prevent stuff like this, we have to go to the root causes and start addressing things on that level. Otherwise, this is what you're going to keep seeing happen over and over again.