D.C. Leaders Blame Virginia's "Permissive" Gun Laws for Navy Yard Shooter Getting Guns

The Washington Post reports that District of Columbia leaders are not happy that a Congressional Republican wants to keep the City from using congressionally appropriated funds to enforce gun laws that make it harder for law abiding citizens to purchase firearms.  They even went so far as to say that the city's restrictive gun laws forced the Navy Yard shooter to go to Virginia to buy his guns because their laws are more permissive.

“That gun was not purchased in the District of Columbia,”  (Mayor Vincent) Gray said. “That gun was not gotten from the District of Columbia. It came from a neighboring state, Virginia, whose gun laws are far more permissive than the District of Columbia and doesn’t have the level of background checks that we have.”

Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie, the main congressional sponsor of the budget amendment, correctly pointed out that those restrictive gun laws did nothing to stop the killer.  It should also be noted that the problem was not Virginia's "permissive" gun laws, but the fact that several law enforcement people who came into contact with the killer prior to his purchasing the firearms did not take the extra step to report his erratic behavior, which may have prevented him from being able to make the legal purchases of the firearms he used.

But facts are inconvenient things to gun banners.