Commissioner Kelley Says NYC's Real Enemy is Illegal Guns

At the New York Post, "'This is the enemy:' Are handguns worse than assault weapons?":

The nation’s looming assault-weapons ban is plain common sense, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said yesterday — but the city’s real enemy is illegal handguns.

“For us in New York City, and I believe in most urban centers throughout America, the problem really is concealable handguns,” Kelly said.

The city’s top cop made the remark on CBS’s “Face the Nation” during a discussion on Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s pending legislation to severely tighten restrictions on military-style firearms and high-capacity ammunition clips.

“We don’t want them on the streets, make no mistake about it,” Kelly said, referring to AK-47s and AR-15s, such as the one used in the Newtown, Conn., elementary-school massacre. “But the problem is the handgun.”

Handguns account for nearly all murders by firearm in New York City and state, data show. An analysis by the NYPD determined that assault weapons were used in just three of the 1,400 instances of gunplay in the city last year.

The biggest obstacle in stemming the flow of the illegal weapons — both assault rifles and handguns — is the less restrictive laws in other locales, Kelly said.

A universal background check would eliminate loopholes that allow these guns to be sold with virtually no questions asked and without documentation, he and other supporters say.

Responding to Kelly’s national call for action against handguns, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) told The Post, “Whether it’s handguns or assault weapons, universal background checks will help prevent both from falling into the wrong hands.”

I doubt it.

Adam Lanza just stole his mother's guns. And Aurora murderer James Holmes bought all of his stuff legally. His psychiatrist didn't give authorities warnings of his likely violent inclinations. The university was on epic freak out mode when the news of the massacre broke. Gun legislation didn't do jack to stop that carnage. We all support keeping guns out of the hands of criminals. But the Democrats want just the opposite: keeping guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens. It's really perverse. Authoritarian even.