Connecticut isn’t a gun-friendly state by any stretch of the imagination. They’re not quite to the level of some other states, much less most foreign nations, with their anti-gun zealotry, but that’s probably because they know any efforts going that far would be slapped down by the Supreme Court.

To get a gun there, one must jump through a number of hoops, starting with a permit to purchase. A background check will be performed regardless of where you buy the gun, also. You can’t carry too many rounds in your gun, either, and if you want to carry it at all, there are still more hoops to jump through.

Or, you could just break into a gun store and steal guns, skipping all that.

Police are searching for suspects who they say stole 10 guns from a store Sunday morning in Southington.

According to police, officers responded to a commercial burglary at Lock N’ Load Firearms. Video from inside the business showed suspects entering the store through the front window.

The business said 10 handguns were stolen from the store.

An officer was able to locate the vehicle shortly after the burglary in Cheshire across from I-691 on Route 10. The officers were able to locate one gun in the vehicle.

Police said the suspects, who they think are juveniles, are a threat to the local communities — especially with nine stolen guns still on the streets.

Juveniles? With guns?

Aren’t there laws against this sort of thing?

Usually, criminals are so law-abiding, you know?

In all seriousness, this is the big issue I have with gun control advocates. It’s bad enough they want to trample our rights, but their entire position somehow presupposes that criminals can’t get firearms through some other means.

Here, they’re stealing guns, but as I noted earlier today, even many tightly gun-controlled nations have an issue with armed criminals, which means even if average folks couldn’t buy a gun lawfully, the criminals would still get them.

The problem is that when you focus on the wrong things, you don’t actually deal with the issue.

Violent crime is a problem, but people keep wanting to look at the tools being used rather than the tools using them. As a result, those tools–the ones using guns, mind you–are free to find alternate sources of the tools they want. No background checks or permit requirements are going to stop them.

And if you’re willing to shoot and kill someone, often over some perceived slight as opposed to anything else, then do you really think someone’s going to blink at stealing?

If so, you’re smoking the good stuff.

Homicide is one of the worst offenses one can commit. People know this. Contrary to what many figure, criminals aren’t generally ignorant of the crimes they’re committing, and absolutely no one thinks murder is acceptable. If they’re prepared to go that far, I doubt they’re really going to stop and consider a gun store owner’s property rights as sacrosanct.

Stop looking at “gun violence” as a gun problem and recognize that it’s a violence problem. If you do that, you might actually do something good without trampling on people’s rights.