In the past couple weeks ...

[MissouriShooter]

Four men used weapons, some of which were legally purchased handguns of .45 and 9mm caliber and a few long guns and all of which were of referred to as "assault" or "high powered" weapons by the media but none of which were actually, legally, of that type, to kill more than two dozen innocent victims, including seven police officers.

-- Lovelle Mixon, a career criminal in Oakland CA, used an illegally acquired weapon to kill three police officers when they tried to apprehend him for a rape. He has been praised by Oakland citizens as a hero because he resisted his arrest. They even held a parade in his honor. God Bless America, huh?

-- Robert Stewart entered an unsecured elderly rehab center in North Carolina and murdered eight people and injured others, then was shot by a brave local police officer who ended the rampage. Subsequent investigation revealed that Stewart had been hunting for his ex-wife, who had gone into hiding at the home where she was an employee.

-- Jiverly Wong, an ethnic-Chinese from Vietnam, who had difficulties learning English although a US resident since the 1990's, went on a shooting jag at an immigration center in New York State, killing 14 people taking a citizenship class. Wing had also had difficulty holding a job and had been quoted as hating America. Wong killed himself before police could get to him.

-- Richard Poplawski, a 23-year old washout from USMC boot camp for fighting with a DI, a member of Stormfront, a neo-Nazi group, and who had a paranoid delusion that the government was going to take away his weapons, got into an argument with his Mother, with whom he lived, about his dog peeing on the carpet. Mom called the police and Richard shot three of them dead with his rifle. He used an AK-47, a battle rifle sold to anyone who can pass a NICS check in the US and afford the freight, but not in any semi- or full-auto configuration. That's been illegal for sale in the US since 1934.

That's 75 years ago. Trust me: Poplawski didn't have an assault weapon.

FYI, AP reported "hundreds of rounds fired" but the police, who should know, say "maybe 70". Guess who's got an agenda?

Let's look at this recent spate of idiocy.

First is the assignment of the term "assault rifle" to any gun, if it's black. That's BS. An assault rifle has to be able to fire more than one round with a single trigger pull. That's the law. You cannot buy one legally in the US without going through an intense and ongoing personal investigation, that includes a check on your inventory anytime BATF wants, 24/7/365. None of the guys above could have passed, nor could they have afforded the special license it requires.

Therefore, if they used automatic weapons, it's 100% likely they acquired them illegally.

Second is the way the MSM reported the weapons as "high powered"...if I could throw a rock at 1200 fps, my arm would be illegal, if the MSM had their way. I am hard-pressed to think of any weapon that fires a projectile at less than that velocity, including most BB guns.

Which is why some BB guns, including those used in the Olympics, were on the Clinton-era Assault Weapons Ban.

Third, all of these guys were NUTS! They're no more representative of the vast numbers of gun owners in the US than were Charles Whitman or Lee Harvey Oswald. And if the USMC had not done Poplawski the favor of giving him a Discharge for the Convenience of the Service instead of a DD or a BCD, he wouldn't have been allowed by law to purchase a firearm. He'd have never gotten past the NICS check.

No, there's no way that you can tell when someone will flip and do something stupid, kill with whatever's at hand. That includes a butter knife. Better make your silverware illegal, too, huh?

ABC TV recently ran a report that claimed there's 250,000,000 registered guns in the US. Well, since there's no gun registration in the US, with the exception of three states, that's a questionable statement.

But if it's true, in the past two weeks, 249, 999, 993 legally acquired handguns and rifles in the US did NOT kill anyone.