Even if we took the unconstitutionality of gun control off the table, the problem is that it doesn't really work like proponents claim. Bad people can still get guns no matter what you do, especially if you're going to be serious about not disarming law-abiding citizens as you claim.
While regular folks have to jump through hoops to buy a gun--hoops designed to keep certain people from being able to get them--the criminals have long ago figured out how to get around them.
Most buy guns on the black market or steal them for themselves. Others get friends or family to get the guns for them. These are straw purchases, and while they're not the predominant way bad guys get firearms, they are an option many use.
And one alleged straw buyer is looking at spending enough time behind bars that she'll never breathe free air again.
The mother of the man who allegedly shot and killed Sgt. Nevada Krinkee has been federally indicted for allegedly illegally furnishing firearms to her son, a felon.
Eileen Marie Hurley was indicted by a grand jury Jan. 15 for allegedly buying two 9 millimeter pistols and one .22 caliber pistol and giving them to “Prohibited Person #1” — her son William F. Lowery. Hurley is facing three counts of purchasing and transferring firearms between May 14, 2022 and Feb. 13, 2024, and two counts of giving false statements during firearm purchase in U.S. District Court of Wyoming.
If Hurley is found guilty on all five counts, she could face up to 55 years imprisonment and $1.25 million in total fines.
Lowery allegedly killed Sheridan Police Department Sgt. Nevada Krinkee Feb. 13, 2024 while Krinkee was attempting to serve a trespass warning on Lowery in Sheridan. Hurley called The Sheridan Press Feb. 13, 2024, and identified herself to staff as Lowery’s mother. It also lists Eileen Marie Lowery as Lowery’s mother in his obituary.
The U.S. Gun Control Act of 1968 prohibits individuals who have been convicted of a felony from purchasing or owning firearms. The law also prohibits individuals from buying firearms for someone who has been convicted of a felony.
An arrest warrant was filed for Hurley in U.S. District Court of Wyoming Jan. 15, and bond was set at $20,000 unsecured. Hurley pleaded not guilty to all five charges during her initial appearance Jan. 30 in Cheyenne, traveling from Aurora, Nebraska. Estimated time for trial is one to five days. Trial date is set for March 24, 2025 at 1:30 p.m. before Honorable Judge Alan B. Johnson in Cheyenne.
Lowery had a long list of charges to his credit, including three convictions for domestic violence and the last of those being felony charges.
In other words, he was so prohibited that if reincarnation were to exist, he'd be prohibited in his next life, too.
And that was before killing a cop.
Yet that prohibition didn't stop him from getting guns, apparently. He just got his non-felon mom to do it for him. That's kind of sweet in a completely unhinged, completely criminal way. It also resulted in her son getting killed by police after a tense standoff and God only knows how many shots fired at police, bystanders, and anyone else he could shoot at.
See, the problem is that criminals don't care about laws. Lowery, with his long criminal history, was a prime example of such a person. Laws against beating his domestic partners--it's unclear if he was married or just in a relationship with these victims--didn't stop him, nor did numerous other laws. He broke them regularly.
Eventually, he got his happy butt killed, but not before he found a way to get multiple firearms.
And no matter what laws you put in place, someone like that is just going to work to find a way around them.
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