If you comply with all of the laws on a given item – say, an opioid painkiller – but criminals obtain it illegally, should you be demonized for it? The obvious answer is that no, you shouldn't.
But with guns, anything akin to rationality runs away screaming when gun control zealots start talking.
See, while facts may be facts, there's a way to frame them that makes them look particularly nefarious. It's kind of like the whole, "Are you still beating your wife?" thing, in a way.
What I'm talking about is a piece at The Smoking Gun, which is an anti-gun propaganda effort that purports to keep an eye on the gun industry, but really just tries to stir crap up.
Its latest attempt is titled, "Glock Named Top Manufacturer of Crime Guns in California."
And it doesn't get much better when you read it:
On July 1, the California Department of Justice (DOJ) published a groundbreaking report providing key insights about the companies that manufacture and sell crime guns recovered in the state1 — information that can help researchers, lawmakers, and other stakeholders better understand how criminals obtain firearms in their communities.
The new “Crime Guns, Inspections, and Handguns in California” report combines information required by two key pieces of legislation: Assembly Bill 1191, a first-of-its-kind law enacted in October 2021 that requires the California DOJ to name the manufacturers and dealers of the state’s crime guns — as first reported on in 2023 and 2024 — and Senate Bill 965, a law enacted last year that requires the agency to report certain information about gun dealer inspections.
Glock Tops the Charts
The new report named Glock as the top manufacturer of crime guns recovered and traced in California in 2024, followed by Smith & Wesson, Ruger, Taurus, and Springfield Armory. Together, these five gun makers produced over 47% of the crime guns recovered last year. (To see last year’s rankings, click here.)
Of course, this looks bad for Glock. It must be doing something wrong, right?
No, it's not.
Glock is probably the most popular brand of handgun in the country. It's in more law enforcement holsters than any other brand, and quite a lot of consumers buy them because they're priced reasonably and have a reputation for reliability. There's also tons of aftermarket support for them.
Smith & Wesson is probably the second most popular brand, thanks to its M&P line of firearms, which was created to rival Glock's pistols, and they do a pretty good job of it, too.
So, if criminals steal guns, the odds are that they're likely to steal something like a Glock or Smith & Wesson. Ruger, Taurus, and Springfield Armory also have sizeable followings for their guns, which is why they're on the list, too.
What The Smoking Gun does is use this, with statements about paperwork "violations," to make it seem that these guns were illegally sold, while not admitting that "incomplete paperwork" could well mean someone abbreviated Los Angeles as "LA" when they shouldn't have.
Even if the dealers were doing everything wrong, though, that's not Glock's fault. It's generally selling to distributors, who then sell to licensed dealers, who then sell to consumers. No one along the way has any idea that someone they're dealing with may not be following the law.
But hey, why would propagandists care about a little thing like facts now?
