The first reports that came out about the Navy Yard shootings were that the perpetrator had used an AR-15 “assault rifle.” An AR-15 is no more an assault rifle than a single shot rifle, because that’s what an AR-15 is. It just had to be an “assault weapon” in order to push the gun control narrative.

The Washington Post is reporting that Aaron Alexis “rented an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and used it for target practice at a Northern Virginia gun range and store less than two days before his shooting spree, according to the lawyer for the store.”

An AR-15 just has to be part of this story.

Now we know that the shooter had entered the facility with a shotgun. It’s still not clear how he was able to get through several levels of security with a shotgun in tow. “News outlets reported that investigators believe Alexis carried the disassembled shotgun in a backpack as he entered the Navy Yard’s Building 197 — then stopped in a men’s room to put the gun together.” Why wasn’t his bag checked? Why wasn’t there a metal detector?

As usual, the media, Henry Winkler, anti-Second Amendment advocates, and the President are calling for stricter gun control laws.

How would any new laws have stopped this guy? If he had security clearance to enter the Navy Yard, even with a number of past arrests, what would have stopped him from purchasing a gun, which he did, legally? What would have stopped him from getting a gun illegally?

President Obama has no problem using a shotgun.

After the Newtown shooting in February of this year, Vice President Biden told those attending a town hall meeting hosted by Parents magazine that if people wanted to purchase a gun, they should choose a shotgun over an AR-15:

“If you want to protect yourself, get a double-barreled shotgun. . . . You don’t need an AR-15, it’s harder to aim, it’s harder to use. . . .”

That’s not bad advice. The thing of it is, there are people who will use a shotgun illegally. The problem’s not the gun.

Maybe the shooter said when purchasing his legally obtained shotgun that he was doing so on the recommendation of Vice President Biden since he had given the same advice to his wife:

“I said, ‘Jill, if there’s ever a problem, just walk out on the balcony here, put that double-barreled shotgun and fire two blasts outside the house.’”

His parting words of advice were, “Buy a shotgun. Buy a shotgun!”

During the 2008 campaign, he assured his audience that as President, Obama would not infringe on the rights of gun owners. He told the crowd, “Barack Obama ain’t takin’ my shotgun, so don’t buy that malarky. . . I got two, and if [Obama] tries to fool with my Beretta, he’s got a problem!”

Once again, the problem isn’t guns; it’s the people who use them unlawfully.