Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is on his way out of office this year due to term limits and the race is on to replace him. The leading contender among the city’s Democrats is Congresswoman Karen Bass. She currently enjoys a healthy lead in the polls, but she had some alarming news to announce yesterday. Her home had been broken into and she was very distressed over it. But this wasn’t a case of her political opponents swatting her or anything of the sort. This was just another good old-fashioned robbery. The goods that the thief or thieves made off with are raising some eyebrows, however. She claims that they stole two handguns from her. (Fox News)
Democratic Congresswoman Karen Bass, who is running for mayor of Los Angeles, announced Saturday that her home was burglarized as the city experiences a surge in crime that is one of the top concerns facing southern California voters.
“Last night, I came home and discovered that my house had been broken into and burglarized,” the Bass campaign said in a statement. “LAPD was called, and I appreciate their assistance. At this time, it appears that only two firearms, despite being safely and securely stored, were stolen. Cash, electronics and other valuables were not. It’s unnerving and, unfortunately, it’s something that far too many Angelenos have faced.”
Jonah Goldberg summed it up with a tweet containing no words. (Click the play button.)
https://t.co/UfBfarvy4y pic.twitter.com/sAhhvSjctF
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) September 11, 2022
We’re glad nobody was hurt, obviously. It’s also worth noting that a report about a burglary in Los Angeles normally wouldn’t even qualify as a local news story. But the few details we have received so far leave some questions.
The irony of someone running to take charge of a city plagued by rising crime rates being burglarized in the middle of her campaign is, as Jonah pointed out, off the charts. One might think that such an event would offer Congresswoman Bass a moment of self-reflection in terms of the policies she plans to put in place if she’s elected. Earlier this year, likely sensing a major shift in the political winds after District Attorney George Gascon narrowly avoided a recall election, Bass started making some noise about refunding the police. But she had previously been on board with defunding the police. And even now, part of her “crime plan” involves bringing in civilians in some cases to take over certain roles from the cops. Will this experience move her to change her policies further?
And then there’s the matter of her “property” that was stolen. She had two firearms in her home? As recently as this February, Bass was still “on the record” in favor of restricting gun purchase and possession and repealing “stand-your-ground” laws. Last year she voted for two strict gun control laws in the House. She clearly doesn’t think that you need the right to have a firearm to defend yourself, but she had two of them in her home?
It’s also very curious how and why the thieves made off with the two firearms while “cash, electronics and other valuables” were left untouched. That sounds to me like some thieves who knew just what they were looking for and where to find it while passing up other easier targets of opportunity. It doesn’t definitely prove anything, of course, but it’s certainly curious.
And how did the thieves manage to get hold of the weapons? Bass says the firearms were “safely and securely stored.” The California State Department of Justice informs us that firearms in the home, when not in use, should be “unloaded, locked with a firearms safety device and stored in a locked container. Ammunition should be stored in a location separate from the gun.”
Nobody was home, so they should have been locked up, right? How did the thieves manage to overcome all of those precautions? Or is it possible that Karen Bass was not properly securing her firearms in a fashion called for by the state government? And again, nothing else was stolen while they still managed to get away with the guns?
Something doesn’t add up here. And since Ms. Bass is hoping to be the next mayor of one of the largest cities in the world as it undergoes a prolonged surge in crime and gun violence, she should be prepared to answer all of these questions.
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