Quote of the day, on the Washington Navy Yard killings: “This is gun control”

“Gun control advocates wasted no time in demanding new restrictions on the means of self-defence … But the unhappy truth is that the scene of the crime, the Washington Navy Yard, is subject to many of the restrictions that gun control advocates favour. And the perpetrator …had passed a background check for a security clearance. Unfortunately, laws and databases don't create magic force-fields against criminal intent … That makes military bases much like other ‘gun-free zones.’ They're only as well protected as the willingness of would-be perpetrators to follow rules allows…
    “Background checks are only as good as the information in the database and the people running them. [The killer] passed his background checks, then was issued credentials that allowed him to enter the Navy Yard, bypassing such armed security personnel as guarded the perimeter.
    “After that, he faced unarmed victims, deprived of the means to defend themselves. At this point the choice of weapons … was moot.
    “This is gun control.”
- Jerome Tuccille, “Washington Navy Yard Already Suffered the Restrictions That Gun Control Advocates Favour”