CA killer uses three weapons in attack, but only one makes the "perp walk"

Once again, a mentally-deranged man is making national headlines after having decided to embarq on a suicide mission to make as many people feel his personal pain as possible.

The man used a knife to kill his first three victims. He also hit two people with his car. But only one tool used by the killer is getting any blame - the handgun.

Consider the photograph at right, released by EPA/Michael Nelson. Did police display a photograph of the killer's car? Did they display a photograph of the killer's knife? No. The only tool used by the killer which is deemed by this California law enforcement agency to be worthy of making the "perp walk" is the handgun.

Apparently, in the eyes of the anti-gun extremist, persons injured or killed by a car or knife are just not as worthy of attention. Neither, it seems, is it worth mentioning that misogyny and racism were motives. Only a passing glance will be given to the failures of the mental health industry.

No, we must blame it on the "gun culture." Blame it on the NRA. Blame it on the tool (No, not all of them - just the politically-incorrect one).

One thing that we know won't be blamed is the kind of repressive laws that made sure none of this criminal's victims could be armed on the night that death came calling.

California, you see, is a model for gun control extremists. If only the country had laws like California, we have been told in the past when similar attacks occur elsewhere, we wouldn't have these types of crimes.

Background checks? Yep. Assault weapons bans? Uh huh. Magazine capacity limits. Sure. Gun registration? Check. I could go on and on. When it comes to laws that gun control extremists claim are needed throughout the country to prevent these attacks, Brady Campaign A- graded California has it all.

What California (and the rest of America) doesn't have is the political will to make sure that mentally-ill people who are known by family and law enforcement to be a danger to themselves and others are not allowed continued access to society.

But don't blame the people who have neutered our mental health system in the 1960's (the same time spree killings like this started becoming much more common). Don't blame the knife. Don't blame the car. Dont' even blame the person who committed the crimes.

Blame the gun.

It absolutely will not stop the blood-shed, but it might make you feel better.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary, BFA PAC Vice Chairman, and an NRA-certified firearms instructor. He is the editor of BuckeyeFirearms.org, which received the Outdoor Writers of Ohio 2013 Supporting Member Award for Best Website.