Interesting article from Pravda... yes I read that sometimes too...

[Formaldehyde]

The guns that Chicago gangbangers obtain are usually purchased "legally". Straw buys are apparently a major way for groups to illegally get their firearms...they'll pay some dude 100-200 bucks to buy a gun for them.

Or they buy them in gun shows and from private sales by individuals.

There isn't a way to bring down illegal guns to zero, but I am convinced there are ways for laws and the police to shrink that number by cutting off the non-burglary ways for gangs to obtain them. If that means some suburban or rural guys have to wait a little longer or bring more cards or something, that's a trade I'm willing to make 10/10 times.

It clearly can't be anywhere near zero given so many guns in the US. But we can certainly cut the number substantially by basic common sense measures the NRA and gun advocates still vehemently oppose. We can make it a serious crime to make a straw purchase of a gun used in a crime or to not report the theft to the police. We can make it illegal for gun shows and individuals to sell guns without a background check and proper registration.

I don't have disdain for them, it's obviously a horrible tragedy. I just think it's not productive to use those events to frame our policy choices. "Assault Weapons" are not what kills so many people each year. Chicago alone had 441 shooting deaths in 2012. Those weren't from high capacity magazines on Bushmasters. Spending all this energy and political capital on products that wouldn't really change things feels like a waste to me.

That isn't the issue that law is trying to address. To suggest it is is disingenuous at best. Besides, these sorts of weapons are used by gangs to combat each other and even the police.

MONTEREY PARK, Calif. (KABC) -- An AK-47 was used against L.A. County sheriff's deputies in Compton Tuesday night. Sheriff Lee Baca held a news conference Wednesday to highlight how easy it can be to obtain an assault weapon in California.

At a news conference Wednesday, Sheriff Lee Baca held an AK-47 similar to the one authorities say was used by alleged gang members to open fire on sheriff's deputies in Compton Tuesday night. The deputies were unharmed.

The dangerous shooting is the latest example of what happens when weapons end up in the wrong hands.

"On a daily basis any deputy that's in our area on the department runs a risk of running into something like this," said Deputy Chris Gomez.

Sheriff's deputies Gomez and Laura Perales were in Compton when they heard gunshots near Long Beach Boulevard and Oak Street. They found a suspected gang member injured at the scene.

"We saw one of the suspects," said Perales. "We then pursued him in our vehicle. He then fired at us."

"This weapon is illegal to possess in California," said Baca. "You cannot buy one of these weapons and you cannot own one of these weapons by California law. But gang members in Los Angeles had one of these weapons with a 30-round clip, which is also illegal in California."

They were apparently bright enough to realize all they had to do was to go to another state to get one...

"People who have no criminal records can go anywhere in the United States beyond California, practically, and buy a weapon and then give it to a gang member," said Baca.

Baca says there should be penalties for people who provide illegal guns to gang members, and that assault weapons have no place in a peaceful society.

"It's not unreasonable to say that there is no common sense in this kind of weapon in a domestic society," said Baca.

Unless you actually think Americans need to own assault weapons to protect themselves from the zombie apocalypse, massive rioting, or to overthrow the government someday after it becomes sufficiently "tyrannical", there is really no legitimate reason not to ban them nationally again.