Chechen terrorists in Boston expose the fallacy of gun control laws

by Chad D. Baus

As I listened to the play by play coverage of the Boston bombing terrorists' rampage through the streets of the city late Thursday night and Friday morning, I knew it was only a matter of time before the media began on their quest to find out where the two Chechen terrorists got the guns they used to kill one police officer and wound another. Many journalists, I knew, would pursue this line of investigation with the hope that the answer could be used to push for more gun control.

On Sunday, Reuters published an article entitled "Boston bombing suspects did not have valid handgun licenses."

From the article:

The two brothers suspected in the Boston Marathon bombings, who police say engaged in a gun battle with officers early Friday after a frenzied manhunt, were not licensed to own guns in the towns where they lived, authorities said on Sunday.

In the confrontation with police on the streets of a Boston suburb, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were armed with handguns, at least one rifle and several explosive devices, authorities say.

But neither brother appears to have been legally entitled to own or carry firearms where they lived, a fact that may add to the national debate over current gun laws. Last week, the U.S. Senate rejected a bill to expand background checks on gun purchases, legislation that opponents argued would do nothing to stop criminals from buying guns illegally.

Indeed, the gun control laws which were put in place in Massachusetts were put into law with the promise that they would ensure that the wrong people did not have access to guns.

The article, however, notes that Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who was killed in the shootout with police, would have been required to apply for a gun license with the local police department where he lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts. But according to Cambridge Police Department spokesman Dan Riviello there is no record of him having done so.

Even if he had earlier received a gun license from somewhere outside Cambridge, that license would have to be registered with Cambridge police upon becoming a resident of the city, Riviello said. In Massachusetts, gun licenses are issued by municipal police departments.

"There is no record of him having a license to carry," Riviello told Reuters.

Likewise for Tsarnaev's younger brother Dzhokhar, 19, who was captured alive on Friday thanks to an alert citizen, who after finally being "allowed" to leave his home in the police state that Boston had become during the manhunt, noticed a blood trail leading to his boat. The article points out that Dzhokhar would have been too young to get a handgun license.

Under state law, residents under 21 may only apply for a so-called firearms identification card, which allows the holder to own only rifles that hold 10 rounds or less and shotguns.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had no record of a firearms ID card in Cambridge. The police department in Dartmouth, where Dzhokhar was a student, said they had no record of gun licenses or ID cards for either brother.

According to The New York Times,, authorities recovered three firearms that they believe the suspects used. An M-4 carbine rifle — a firearm that is banned under Massachusetts' Assault weapons ban — was found on the boat where the younger suspect was found Friday night. Two handguns (and a BB gun, which The Times incorrectly labels as a "firearm") were recovered elsewhere. Authorities believe the brothers used those in an earlier shootout with officers in Watertown. Those too, as reported above, were already prohibited by multiple gun control laws in the state of Massachusetts without the proper background checks and licensing.

Again, each and every time gun control extremists push for such laws to be enacted, they promise that the "inconveniences" law-abiding citizens would have to undergo by having their Second Amendment rights infringed upon would be worth it to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

Indeed, this very promise was made to citizens in Massachusetts in 1998. Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby quoted recently from the Globe story in 1998 that trumpeted the bill's signing as "the toughest gun control legislation in the country":

"Today, Massachusetts leads the way in cracking down on gun violence," said Republican Governor Paul Cellucci as he signed the bill into law. "It will save lives and help fight crime in our communities." Scott Harshbarger, the state's Democratic attorney general, agreed: "This vote is a victory for common sense and for the protection of our children and our neighborhoods." One of the state's leading anti-gun activists, John Rosenthal of Stop Handgun Violence, joined the applause. "The new gun law," he predicted, "will certainly prevent future gun violence and countless grief."

...the law that was so tough on law-abiding gun owners had quite a different impact on criminals.

Since 1998, gun crime in Massachusetts has gotten worse, not better. In 2011, Massachusetts recorded 122 murders committed with firearms, the Globe reported this month — "a striking increase from the 65 in 1998." Other crimes rose too. Between 1998 and 2011, robbery with firearms climbed 20.7 percent. Aggravated assaults jumped 26.7 percent.

The problem with these laws, of course, has been revealed by the criminals, just as it was put on full display by the Chechen terrorists, who despite being prohibited in any number of different ways by gun control laws from possessing these firearms, still managed to gain access.

Time and time again, gun control laws fail to keep the promises made when they were enacted, and instead do only what their opponents warned they would - limiting the rights of law-abiding people while doing nothing to stop those who seek to harm others.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Vice Chairman.