The New York Times did a shocking exposé about how some mass shooters purchased their firearms using credit cards. Okay, maybe that’s not so shocking considering many people buy stuff with credit cards but this in involves guns so it’s scary. Since this is scary to liberals obviously it involves a knee-jerk reaction that won’t do anything. The NYT is suggesting that a registry for guns purchased with credit cards would stop mass shootings, which is exactly as dumb as it sounds.
The NYT blew the lid off of the credit card industry on Monday with this ridiculous thing: How Banks Unwittingly Finance Mass Shootings
According to the NYT:
The New York Times reviewed hundreds of documents including police reports, bank records and investigator notes from a decade of mass shootings. Many of the killers built their stockpiles of high-powered weapons with the convenience of credit. No one was watching.
A New York Times examination of mass shootings since the Virginia Tech attack in 2007 reveals how credit cards have become a crucial part of the planning of these massacres. There have been 13 shootings that killed 10 or more people in the last decade, and in at least eight of them, the killers financed their attacks using credit cards. Some used credit to acquire firearms they could not otherwise have afforded.
Those eight shootings killed 217 people. The investigations undertaken in their aftermath uncovered a rich trove of information about the killers’ spending. There were plenty of red flags, if only someone were able to look for them, law enforcement experts say.
And while the NYT claims that 8 mass shooters used credit cards to finance their rampages, they only list a few and one of them probably didn’t even use credit cards to buy guns:
The gunman, Stephen Paddock, killed 58 people and injured more than 800.
When his body was found on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, the police noticed four credit cards scattered across the kitchenette countertop next to his hotel key card.
Police have not disclosed details of how Mr. Paddock paid for his guns.
So, credit cards scattered at the crime scene means he bought his guns with credit cards? That’s the quality of the journalism of this piece, but then again they are trying to make a case that having a registry of people who buy firearms with credit cards will stop mass shootings.
The article is basically the NYT scolding the banks and retailers for not reporting gun purchases to the feds. They even found a guy who says there should be legislation requiring this.
“The best way to make progress on these issues is through the political and legislative process,” said Wells Fargo CFO John Shrewsberry.
With the democrats taking over the House next year, this is just the kind of do-nothing gun control legislation they will try to pass. There are millions of guns and ammunition credit card purchases every year and anyone who thinks a registry of these would help identify and stop potential mass shooters is an idiot. In other words, Nancy Pelosi will put this at the top of her agenda.
I came up with some other stupid ways the democrats could have absolutely no effect on violence, crimes, and mass killings based on common traits of mass shooters:
1. Footwear ban – It turns out all mass shooters were wearing shoes or boots when they committed their horrific crimes. A complete and total ban on footwear would clearly stop any future mass shootings. Perhaps have an exception for open-toe sandals and the like because nobody in their right mind would commit a mass killing in flip-flops.
2. Oxygen tax – All mass shooters breath oxygen so it’s a non-brainer to tax oxygen use. Democrats say gun and bullet taxes reduce crime, so an oxygen tax should help eliminate shootings altogether.
3. Hand registry – Every single shooter had hands and, more importantly, fingers to pull the triggers on the forearms they used. Require everyone with hands containing a total of 10 digits register with the federal government. That registry could then be checked against people who bought guns with credit cards, own shoes, and breath oxygen to identify the potential mass shooters.
4. Eliminate gun-free zones – Nearly every mass shooting ever has been committed in a place where law-abiding people are banned from legally carrying guns for self-defense. By eliminating these mass shooter magnet “gun-free zones,” people would be able to carry firearms and could engage mass shooters, mitigating the carnage. As an added bonus, potential mass shooters wouldn’t select targets that they knew would have armed resistance because another thing these killers have in common is they are all cowards.
Actually, that last one sounds like a pretty good idea, which is why the democrats would never even consider it. The democrats’ gun control “solutions” only involve things that won’t do anything to address the problem, cost a lot of money, and infringe on our rights.
