It's funny, in a way. Thursday was Independence Day. The entire war that resulted in our independence started earlier, though. Lexington and Concord are forever etched into the fabric of America because that's where things kicked off.

What started it? The British rolled up to enforce gun control.

Now, Massachusetts is one of the most perpetually anti-gun states in the nation. They have numerous gun control laws and while they're not at the top of the heap anymore, they're not remotely close to the bottom, either.

There won't be a lot of people who confuse Massachusetts with Texas on that score.

And yet, a Massachusetts man basically laid out the groundwork for just how stupid the state's gun control laws actually are.

Authorities seized homemade explosives, more than 30 guns, and large-capacity ammunition feeders from the residence of 64-year-old Daniel Medina of Village Green Drive in North Andover Tuesday, leading to five felony and three misdemeanor charges in Lawrence District Court Wednesday, Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker and North Andover Police Chief Charles Gray announced.

Authorities executed the warrant after Medina allegedly set off an explosive device that damaged two vehicles and later returned, apparently to try to conceal the damage with spray paint. Authorities found many of the guns did not contain a serial number; Medina’s license to carry weapons expired in the year 2000.

...

“We are thankful for the hard work of the officers and assisting agencies involved in this case,” says North Andover Police Chief Charles Gray. “We also appreciate the citizens of North Andover who, despite inconveniences, allowed this investigation to take place without interruption.”

Medina was charged with five felony counts. They all stem from him being a convicted felon. 

DA Paul Tucker argued, “Anyone who is under the impression that they will not face consequences for illegally stockpiling weapons without a license is absolutely wrong.” Except if Medina hadn't tried to blow something up, then cover it up with spray paint--I really need to find details on that bit, that's for sure--they never would have caught him.

See, the truth of the matter is that he had these guns for quite some time. At least he had many of them. I don't think he put together that kind of collection in the last few months or anything. They include a number of AR-type rifles, some more traditional Fudd-friendly firearms such as break-action long guns, and several handguns including at least one or two that look like black powder revolvers.

That wasn't an overnight purchase, most likely.

So yeah, he didn't face the consequences for "stockpiling" guns for quite some time and still wouldn't have if he hadn't blown something up.

How many other "stockpiles" are there in Massachusetts that no one knows anything about? How many are owned by people who aren't stupid enough to detonate an explosive, particularly where it'll damage vehicles they don't intend to damage?

And while we're at it, let's talk about the explosives themselves. I'm assuming we're not talking about fireworks here. If not, then how did Medina get his hands on explosives? Those are more tightly controlled than firearms, even in Massachusetts, and yet here we are, talking about some random guy blowing up something and messing up a couple of cars.

It seems to me that if he could get explosives, guns wouldn't be a challenge.

And since he figured a can of spray paint would hide the damage, I'm going to guess that Medina doesn't qualify for membership in MENSA.

So yeah, the device that damaged the cars wasn't the only bomb he set off. He also blew up the idea that Massachusetts gun control might actually work.