Misplaced Grief

The family of a victim of the Craigslist Killer blames the gun shop that sold him the gun. The killer apparently sole the identity of someone who could legally purchase the pistol. There’s no sure way to defend against this, despite what John Rosenthal says:

“You couldn’t do this in Massachusetts,’’ said John Rosenthal of Stop Handgun Violence, a Newton-based group. “That’s why he went to New Hampshire.’’

It might be harder in Massachusetts, since you’d have to apply in the right jurisdiction, but does Rosenthal really want to suggest if someone was using a stolen identity that they wouldn’t issue? They’d be sure to catch it? Maybe it’s a little harder in Mass, but everyone can be fooled, and serial killers are notoriously intelligent and resourceful. I’ll bet one could be had on the streets of Dorchester with no ID required at all, if one were so inclined.

7 thoughts on “Misplaced Grief”

  1. Bottom feeders(lawyers – but I repeat myself) just looking for the deeper pockets. Eventually they’ll get around to the manufacturers of the gun and the ammunition he used.

  2. The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act should protect him from most lawsuits of the nature. They’d have to prove negligence on his part, which would be tough in this case.

  3. Better yet, let’s sue the guy who let his ID get stolen. If he hadn’t been so careless and lax this never would have happened and everyone would have lived happily ever after.

  4. Perhaps it’s time for the states and cities to pass a “mandatory reporting of lost or stolen” identity law.

    Under this newfangled feel-good law, whoever is careless enough to become a victim of identity theft, or lose their ID card, and then doesn’t report it within 24 hours, which then results in somebody else using the stolen identity or ID card to purchase a firearm which then gets used to commit a crime, will be guilty of a major crime themselves.

    Making victims of identity theft and people who lose their wallets into criminals will just solve everything, right? Why hasn’t the ruling class thought of this one before?

  5. Let’s see, we have an educated, intelligent white male who seeks out sex workers and attacks them at random, culminating in homicide. Sounds to me like the guy was a serial killer in the making. I reckon he’s about the last person who would ever be deterred from killing by restricting gun rights.

  6. Blame NH,or VT or ME, is the default setting for NY and southern New England. NH has one of Massachusetts’ examples of “common sense gun laws” currently sitting on death row. Long long criminal history of firearm violations in Mass but free to kill a NH cop, yet it’s our fault.

    Home invasions and violent crime are a regular occurence across the state line in Massachusetts, but mysteriously the same activity is a rarity a few miles away in NH and VT, how can that be Messers Helmke and Rosenthal?

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