2nd and 3rd Suspects in Sacramento Shooting Arrested While Politicians Agitate for Gun Control

Six people were killed and 12 were wounded in a mass shooting in downtown Sacramento late Saturday night/early Sunday, turning several blocks of the Capitol city into a massive crime scene. Sacramento police spent the early hours of Sunday searching for the gunmen.

Monday police announced they had one suspect in custody, 26-year-old Dandrae Martin, charged with assault and illegal firearm possession. They announced they were searching for a second gunman.

Tuesday morning, SacPD announced they arrested Smiley Martin, the 27-year-old brother of Dandrae Martin, the first suspect arrested in the shooting. Smiley Martin was in possession of a machine gun. Both brothers appear to have criminal records.

Monday, former Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinnis said on his KFBK radio talk show that it was evident this was a gang-involved shooting. The Globe learned that police activated gang teams to investigate the shootings.

The Globe reported Sunday Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg’s reaction to the shooting was to blame guns, as did Governor Gavin Newsom. Both seized the opportunity to call for even stricter gun control laws.

Breitbart reported Monday that President Joe Biden also responded to the Sacramento shooting by pushing gun laws the state of California already has in place: “Ban ghost guns. Require background checks for all gun sales. Ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Repeal gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability,” Biden said.

Breitbart explained:

California already bans ghost guns.

California has required background checks for all gun sales since the 1990s.

California has banned “assault weapons” since the 1990s.

California bans “high capacity” magazines.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is pushing to allow private citizens to sue gun makers.

Additionally, California has a red flag law, gun registration requirements, a 10-day waiting period on gun purchases, a “good cause” requirement for concealed carry permit issuance, a ban on campus carry for self-defense, a ban on teachers carrying on K-12 campuses for classroom defense, and a limit on the number of guns law-abiding citizens can buy each month.

California also requires would-be purchasers to pass a background check before acquiring ammunition.

SB 1437 by Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), did away with the felony murder rule in California in 2018, which Sheriff McGinnis said would have applied in this case. Prior to SB 1437, McGinnis said if multiple people were engaged in a violent felony, they all were prosecuted for first degree murder. According to bill analysis, SB 1437 was written to revise the felony murder rule to prohibit a participant in the commission or attempted commission of a felony inherently dangerous to human life, to be imputed to have acted with implied malice, unless he or she personally committed the homicidal act.

Both of these men were already prohibited from owning guns. McGinnis said he listened to the audio from the crime scene and heard automatic gunfire.

Tuesday morning, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg announced he will join crime victims, legislative leaders and the state’s “criminal justice reform” advocates “to call for immediate and substantial investments in crime prevention and healing services for crime victims.” His press statement said “Recent Mass Shooting in Sacramento Underscores Urgency to Prevent Crime and Harm Before They Occur.”

Steinberg’s group are all gun control and and defund-the-police advocates:

• Californians for Safety and Justice works to replace prison and justice system waste, and is supported by George Soros’ Open Society Foundation.
• Smart Justice California is a left-of-center criminal justice advocacy group. It is a project of Tides Advocacy, with a $52 million budget.
• ACLU California Action is a left-leaning activist organization and state-level arm of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Steinberg’s highly paid lobbying group of “justice” agitators will announce they are “demanding $3 billion of investments” from Gov. Gavin Newsom “to rapidly expand crime prevention programs in cities up and down the state and provide immediate cash assistance to victims.”

It’s unclear how cash to victims and gun control will prevent mass shootings before they occur. This is just a shakedown designed to fund these types of groups.

And, this response is what happens when politicians refuse to admit that their laws and policies have failed. As the Globe has been reporting, California’s alarming cocktail of criminal justice “reforms” are responsible for the state’s ongoing crime wave. And the politicians ignore that they are responsible for these phony “reforms.” They are far from reforms and are instead unraveling California’s criminal justice laws, passed to keep the citizenry safe from criminals.

Notably, the sponsors of Sen. Skinner’s SB 1437 are all “criminal justice reform” groups: Restore Justice (co-sponsor) Anti-Recidivism Coalition (co-sponsor) Californians for Safety and Justice (co-sponsor) California Coalition for Women Prisoners (co-sponsor) CARES for Youth (co-sponsor) Felony Murder Elimination Project (co-sponsor) Initiate Justice (co-sponsor) Pacific Juvenile Defender Center (co-sponsor) University of San Francisco School of Law Criminal and Juvenile Justice Clinic and Racial Justice Clinic (co-sponsor) USC Gould School of Law Post-Conviction Justice Project (co-sponsor) Youth Justice Coalition (co-sponsor).

Sheriff McGinnis addressed the failure of the so-called “criminal justice reforms” on his show Monday, noting how Mayor Steinberg and City Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela couldn’t resist the opportunity to stand in front of television cameras and express their sorrow at the murders, complete with tears.

Yet when Valenzuela ran for Sacramento City Council, she ran on a “defund-the-police” platform.

On her official Facebook page, Valenzuela, a member of the Sacramento Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, also blamed “gun violence,” and not so subtly called for more “conversation” about gun control measures: “I am overcome by this senseless tragedy. The national epidemic of gun violence has hit our community – again. As we gather the facts we must also have a conversation about what more we can do to prevent this crisis from continuing to take the lives of our neighbors, families and young people.”

Constituents responded and challenged her current and previous statements about police and “criminal justice reforms.”

• One man said, “The mass shooting downtown should give all a heightened sense of urgency to move faster to protect communities from the growing crime problem. Valenzuela’s answer to the shooting: Defund the Police. A day like today tends to show what soft on crime policies can bring to a city.”
• Another referenced Valenzuela’s lack of support for police: “The proposed increased police budget has been met with mixed reactions in Sacramento. City Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela told the Bee she plans to vote against it. “To put more money into law enforcement when we’ve said as a city we want to move in another direction, it doesn’t line up,” she said.
• Another said, “You promoted defunding the police.. this is the result.”
• Another man said, “Taking guns from law abiding citizens will not stop these crimes. Stop supporting liberal agendas.”

Restoring California’s landmark “Three Strikes and You’re Out” law would be a good place to start.

The Mayor and Councilwoman Valenzuela are treading on a dangerous tightrope. Katie Valenzuela is also currently facing a recall election.

UPDATE:

One of the alleged shooters was released from prison six years early by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, even though the man has a long and violent criminal record, the Sacramento Bee reported.

The Sacramento District Attorney’s office strongly opposed the man’s early release: “If he is released early, he will continue to break the law.”

UPDATE 3:30pm, 4/5/2022:

SacPD just reported Third Arrest Made in K Street Shooting Investigation.