Stolen Guns from L.A. Trains Make Mockery of ‘Commonsense’ Laws

U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- “Guns are among the items that have been stolen from cargo containers on railroad tracks in Lincoln Heights,” The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

“People were … breaking into these containers and stealing firearms, tens of firearms,” Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said. “That gave us the great concern as a source again of further violence in the city as people were capitalizing on the transport of these containers with having little or no policing or security services there.”

“LAPD Deputy Chief Al Labrada, who commands the Central Bureau, which includes the Lincoln Heights railroad tracks, said the department has recovered ‘numerous guns’ from people who said the weapons were taken from boxcars in the area,” the report adds. That means they’ve only recovered the tip of the iceberg and unknown quantities of guns have been added to the criminal underworld’s black-market inventory and on their way to “the streets.”

So much for background checks, waiting periods, “may issue” permits, “red flag laws,” and the host of other infringements that have “earned” California a Giffords “A”-grade for “strongest gun laws in the United States.” I’ll even bet none of the stolen firearms were “ghost guns.”

The story actually raises more questions than it answers. First and foremost: Who shipped the guns and where were they being sent?

Were they commercial shipments going from dealers to FFLs/gun stores for the “civilian” market? Or were they being sent to police and government agencies? If the latter, are we talking about firearms reserved for law enforcement and denied to average citizens in the name of “commonsense gun safety” now being in predators’ hands?

The manifests should answer those questions, but either way, what is the likelihood that the thieves just stumbled upon the shipments by happenstance? Conversely, what is the likelihood that organized criminal enterprises have inside sources that told them just where to look?

And is this a first or has it happened before? How many times?

Meanwhile, Gavin Newsom is out there doing photo ops pretending he’s doing clean-up work, and apologizing for offending “progressive” sympathies by referring to L.A. as a  “third-world country” and referring to the scumbag thieves as “gangs.”

Priorities, you know.

And, of course, here was the kicker:

“I don’t think anyone particularly cares about who to blame…”

We know who is to blame for setting up the conditions that have devolved the Golden State from what was once a mecca for freedom and prosperity into a third-world, crime-infested hellhole, with poop on the street in major cities and enough voters getting their cut out of “our Democracy” to keep the political grift mills rolling. And in this case, noting who’s “in charge,” expect blame, and plenty of it, to be placed on guns, with any violence committed with the newly-stolen firearms used to “justify” further infringements on the right of the people to keep and bear arms.

If it turns out the shipments were for the commercial market, look for money-grabbing lawsuits “to hold the industry accountable,” and legislation to require cost-prohibitive new “security” measures, which will ultimately be passed on to consumers through even higher prices.

Meanwhile, Chief Moore “said the LAPD is working with the Department of Transportation on physical improvements to the Lincoln Heights site that would deter would-be rail burglars.”

With a governor afraid to call a gang a gang and a Soros prosecutor whose agenda is to spread and embed the cultural Marxism, don’t look for such “deterrence” to be the kind that would set a quick example discouraging would-be looters from even trying.

Instead, look for:

“In response to these thefts, Union Pacific increased the number of special agents, drones, specialized fencing and trespass detection systems. Thursday’s cleanup effort signaled the support Union Pacific is receiving from its community partners to continue to invest the necessary resources to move forward.”

Because that’s worked so well at the border. Just ask Gavin Newsom, offering California “sanctuary” to any immigration lawbreaker who asks.


About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.

David Codrea