A major problem with gun control is that these laws only target law-abiding citizens and not the actual scumbags who are committing the crimes, which defeats the stated purpose of reducing crime. A secondary problem is that gun control laws don’t actually work to stop anyone from getting a hold of a firearm. This story serves as a perfect example of the failures of gun control.
A Korean national, who has been committed for mental health problems, had no problem passing multiple background checks and purchasing seven firearms. Liberals would like to pass an expanded background check system, but maybe they ought to fix the existing one instead.
South Korean citizen Heon “Hank” Jong Yoo calls himself a “Neo-Confederate” and is a genuine nut. He was involuntarily committed to a mental institution, not once, but twice. He is a legal resident of the US, but not a citizen. Being crazy plus a lack of citizenship are two major disqualifiers in purchasing a firearm, and yet this guy was able to buy seven guns. He didn’t buy these guns on the street, but rather at licensed dealers.
The Details of Yoo’s conviction and the futility of gun control were detailed in a Department of Justice news release:
A 25-year-old Tyler, Texas man has been found guilty of federal violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney Joseph D. Brown today.
Heon Jong Yoo, a/k/a “Hank Yoo,” was found guilty today of seven counts of false statements made in connection with firearms transactions and one count of unlawful possession by a prohibited person. The three-day jury trial occurred before U.S. District Judge Robert W. Schroeder, III.
According to information presented in court, Yoo was an undergraduate student at the University of Texas-Tyler. A lawful permanent resident from South Korea, Yoo falsely represented that he was a United States citizen with respect to seven different firearms transactions, some of which involved semiautomatic weapons. He did so after having been involuntarily committed to a mental institution in the state of New Jersey in 2013 and again in 2015. At the time of his arrest, Yoo was in possession of multiple firearms, ammunition, and firearms accessories. Yoo was indicted by a federal grand jury on Apr. 18, 2018.
“This case was a great example of federal, state, and local law enforcement working together to stop a threat that really could have had tragic results,” U.S. Attorney Joseph D. Brown said.
No, this case is a great example of what a joke gun control is. Whenever someone attempts to purchase a gun from a federally licensed firearm dealer, he or she must fill out a 4473 form. This form asks if the potential buyer is a prohibited person because of felony convictions, non-citizenship, and involuntary institutionalization, among other things.
The form is then sent to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), to see if the information on the form is valid. If everything checks out, the buyer is approved and gets his or her gun. Idiots lie on this form all the time, but the system is supposed to catch them and deny the firearms purchase.
Yoo filled out 7 of these forms and lied on every one of them, yet was approved to buy seven guns. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me seven times, and shame on the background check system because it is broken. If NICS can’t detect that a non-citizen with two involuntary trips to the loony bin is trying to buy a gun seven times in a row, it simply doesn’t work.
In case there is any doubt that Yoo is insane, he also refers to himself as the “Asian Nazi” as reported by The Longview News-Journal. As an immigrant himself, he has verbally attacked other immigrants, saying this country hates them. He holds white supremacist views and believes that he is truly a white American Neo-Confederate despite the fact that he’s clearly Asian.
Yoo faces 5 years in federal prison for each false statement charge and 10 years for the unlawful firearms possession count.
There is zero evidence that background checks, waiting periods, gun bans, or magazine bans have ever stopped even one person from committing a crime with a gun. There is, however, a mountain of evidence that gun control is a complete joke and does nothing to reduce crime. The case of Hank Yoo is just more proof that gun control is ineffective.
