SHOCK: Persons obtain dozens of firearms without background check

According to so-called "common-sense" gun control extremists like Mark Kelley's "Americans for Responsible Solutions," all we have to do to keep criminals from gaining access to firearms is to mandate that a background check be done before all transfers of firearms. Pass "universal" background checks, we're told, close the "gun show loophole," we're told, and we can stop mass shootings!

Indeed, ARS is on record saying that by mandating "universal" background checks we can "ensure that guns stay out of the hands of those prohibited by federal law." (emphasis added).

So according to these gun control extremists' "logic," the thieves who forced entry into a Toledo-area firearms retailer wouldn't have been able to do so had the law mandated background checks for every firearms transfer.

From the WNWO (NBC Toledo):

Authorities are searching for answers after several dozen guns and weapons were stolen from Towers Armory in Oregon early Monday morning.

It happened around 3 a.m., but owners didn't call police until 9 a.m. when they came in.

Police say that surveillance video shows two suspects entered the building through the roof, were in the building for more than an hour and then exited through the roof as well.

"We know that two people entered the building through the roof, and we believe exited through the roof and may have been in there for quite some time," said Oregon Police Chief Michael Navarre.

In its coverage, WTVG (ABC Toledo) notes that this particular establishment rents fully-automatic weapons for use at its range, but no one is reporting on the specific firearms that were stolen.

How can this be? Mark Kelley, and other gun-control ARSes claim all we have to do to stop criminals from getting guns - the way that we can "ensure" they don't - is to pass another law. Never mind that it there is a law in place prohibiting the breaking and entering, there is a law in place prohibiting the stealing of those guns, and there are more laws in place prohibiting the thieves from selling them.

Why, if it's so easy for criminals to obtain guns in the absence of a "universal" background check law, does the ATF say that firearms stolen during FFL burglaries have risen by 72.53% since 2012, and that firearms stolen during FFL robberies have risen by 213.56% since 2012?

Indeed, on the occasion of another such crime, Cincinnati's ATF Resident Agent Merrill was quoted by WKEF (ABC Cincinnati) as saying that more thefts are occurring because of efforts to keep guns out of the hands of criminals (and you and me?):

"I'd like to believe it's a result of [the fact that] it's getting harder for criminals to get guns so they have to take these measures and do burglaries," Merrill said.

And yet they want the American people to think that a law requiring that a background check be performed on every sale would make the people buying these guns from these thieves on the street say, "I wish I could, but we need to do a background check first."

Gun ban extremists aren't worried about these criminals' stolen guns, and the fact that their laws wouldn't affect them make that obvious. What they are worried about is YOUR guns, which is why their proposals DO focus on you.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary and an NRA-certified firearms instructor. He is co-founder of BFA-PAC, and served as its Vice Chairman for 15 years. He is the editor of BuckeyeFirearms.org, which received the Outdoor Writers of Ohio 2013 Supporting Member Award for Best Website.