On Thursday’s broadcast of Newsmax TV’s “National Report,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara stated that “The overwhelming majority of the time, people that are committing crimes with guns do not purchase them legally, they are not lawfully in possession of them.” And “the overwhelming majority of violence that we do see in the community that is committed using guns is committed by people who are not lawfully possessing or lawfully purchasing firearms here in the state.”
O’Hara said that, with the Catholic school shooting in the city earlier in the week, “The weapons were purchased lawfully within the state. That is true.”
He continued, “But that is not what is common for the overwhelming majority of street crime and violence that we see in Minneapolis and in the surrounding communities. The overwhelming majority of the time, people that are committing crimes with guns do not purchase them legally, they are not lawfully in possession of them. So, in the grand picture of things, I don’t know how much of the basis it has that the weapons were purchased lawfully, because the person did not have a criminal history at all, the person did not have mental health commitments within the state. So, I think — again, the overwhelming majority of violence that we do see in the community that is committed using guns is committed by people who are not lawfully possessing or lawfully purchasing firearms here in the state.”
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