A few days ago I pontificated on the difference between “nuts” and “terrorists,” and lo and behold, today one “Syed Farook” and one “Tashfeen Malik” go ahead and give me the perfect test case. Since there are two, “terrorism” would seem to be the most likely explanation; but since the guy (apparently) shot up his own co-workers, it would seem to be a “workplace violence thing.” The two apparently put some thought into the project ahead of time, which decreases the likelihood of “nutjobs” and pushes it towards “terrorism.” However the facts shake out, you can bet that there will be a great many trying to downplay any religious motivation (while playing it up for the Planned Parenthood shooting).
Of course, before much of anything about the shooters was known, Blatherer In Chief Obama bloviated thusly: “For those concerned about terrorism, some might be aware of the fact that we have a no-fly list where people can’t get on planes, bu those same people who we don’t allow to fly, can go into a store right now in the U.S. and there is nothing we can do to stop them. That is a law that needs to be changed.”
Neat. So those who are on the no-fly list should have their Second Amendment rights withdrawn. OK, sure. Why not. But then you have to ask: if these people have been adjudicated to be so much of a risk that they should not only not be allowed to buy a gun (legally), they should also not be allowed to fly… why are they being allowed to roam the streets? Shouldn’t they be locked up? If with the stroke of a pen one of their Constitutional rights can be wiped away, why not others?
And of course, once you determine that Constitutional rights are negotiable for those who have not committed a crime and been tried by their peers, ya gotta wonder whether Trumps hypothetical Muslim Registry would be equally popular.
So far I’ve heard nobody suggest that Syed or Tashmeen were on the no-fly list. So far I’ve heard that at least one of the guns they used was purchased legally, which in California certainly means both Federal and State background checks and registration. So once again… what new gun laws would have prevented this?