This week's mass shooting at a Manhattan office building has predictably provoked contending commentary that follows a familiar script. According to critics of gun control, the fact that such crimes periodically happen in jurisdictions with strict firearm laws shows those laws do not work as advertised. But according to advocates of tighter restrictions on guns, the problem is that other jurisdictions refuse to enact them.
"New York has some of the strongest gun laws in the nation," Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Tuesday. "We banned assault weapons. We strengthened our Red Flag Law. We closed dangerous loopholes. But our laws only go so far when an AR-15 can be obtained in a state with weak gun laws and brought into New York to commit mass murder….Congress must summon the courage to stand up to the gun lobby and finally pass a national assault weapons ban before more innocent lives are stolen."
Hochul's focus on "assault weapons" is puzzling. It is true that the gun used in Monday's attack, a Palmetto State Armory PA-15 rifle, falls into that category as New York defines it. But that definition has little to do with a weapon's utility to mass murderers.
