There’s a new wrinkle in Sunday’s shooting in Burnsville, Minnesota, that gives the lie to at least one part of the left’s gun control narrative.
Specifically, this tragedy shows that restricting access to guns won’t necessarily keep them out of the hands of the wrong people.
According to police, Shannon Gooden, 38, a resident of the Minneapolis suburb, opened fire on officers who responded to a domestic disturbance call, killing two of them and one firefighter before eventually killing himself, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.
And, in a new development, we have learned that he was not even supposed to own guns in the first place.
The AP report, which cited court records, said Gooden had been legally barred from owning firearms after pleading guilty to assault with a deadly weapon back in 2008, and as of the standoff on Sunday, he had made no progress in regaining his gun rights.
BURNSVILLE GUNMAN: Shannon Gooden ’07 Dakota Co assault booking photo. That arrest/conviction = lifetime ban on possessing firearms. He appealed & lost. Yesterday, authorities found multiple guns in his home after he shot 4 emergency responders, killing 3 heroes. @FOX9 coverage⬇️ https://t.co/2GjpAp5XKx pic.twitter.com/cQjieHKHZe
— Paul Blume (@PaulBlume_FOX9) February 20, 2024
Furthermore, Gooden was involved in a contentious custody dispute with Noemi Torres, the mother of his three oldest children (who were in the house during the standoff with the police, along with five other members of his family).
Indeed, Torres told local outlet KARE-TV that Gooden told her he’d open fire if she called 911. “I’m going to have a standoff,” she quoted him as saying. “I’m going to kill everybody.”
Does gun control work?
Clearly, Gooden was disturbed and had a history of violence going back a good 15 years.
The man was dangerous, and had no business, legally or otherwise, to be anywhere near a firearm.
And yet, despite that history, and despite the legal barriers to him owning firearms, he had them readily in his possession.
The fact is, if they want them badly enough, people are going to get firearms no matter how stringent the gun laws are.
Anytime a school shooting or similar tragedy shocks the nation, liberals insist the blame lies with the lack of gun control.
It’s a response so predictable you can practically set your watch by it.
And yet, the number of shootings that have occurred in blue states with strict gun laws, or were perpetrated by folks like Gooden who weren’t even legally allowed to have firearms, shows that these laws are often terribly ineffective when it comes to reducing gun crime.
Those who are determined to break the law will not be deterred by laws against gun ownership or other controlled weapons or substances.
Instead, most gun control laws are just going to take guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens, depriving them of the ability to defend themselves from people like Gooden.
While we desperately need solutions for reducing the rash of gun violence across our country, more restrictive gun laws are clearly not the answer.
