1. Why debate on guns never goes anywhere
2. Obama starts 2016 with a fight over gun control with expanded background checks
3. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott: Obama gun control actions ‘trampled’ Bill of Rights
4. Open Carry officially prohibited in Smith County buildings housing courtrooms

Some on the left are drawing exactly the wrong conclusions about the recent shootings in a Waco restaurant. They seem to think the shootings are a reason to tighten gun control laws, and that somehow the shootings prove that concealed carry or even open carry laws are bad.

The shootings don’t prove that at all.

Let’s look at the gun control arguments. A number of news outlets ran stories with headlines like the International Business Times’ “Texas Senate approves open carry of handguns bill days after Waco shootout.”

The article explains, “The Texas Senate approved a bill on Friday that would allow the open carry of handguns, permitting residents to carry licensed handguns openly in a shoulder or belt holster. The bill was passed on a 19-12 vote, just days after a deadly shootout in Waco killed nine and injured 18, sparking fresh debate around the issue.”

Well, no — it didn’t spark fresh debate about the issue. The bill is completely unrelated to the shootings.

Here’s how. The Waco shootout was a clash between rival biker gangs, the Cossacks and the Bandidos. It was another eruption of a long-simmering conflict over territory for their criminal enterprises, which include drug running and illegal weapons, according to police.

There are conflicting reports on whether all victims (nine dead, 18 injured) were gang members or just unaffiliated bikers attending a meeting. The Waco police are pretty sure of their evidence, though, that “those that were involved in the activities at Twin Peaks are known criminal gang members.”

The real point is that those bikers aren’t the concealed carry crowd. Both clubs proudly declare themselves “outlaw” motorcycle clubs, or “1-percenters” (based on the notion that 99 percent of people who ride motorcycles are law-abiding).

This doesn’t mean, of course, that some innocent bikers from other clubs weren’t caught up in the confusion and carted off to jail. The courts are presently sorting that out. But there’s no indication any of those killed were holders of concealed carry licenses.

The rules for concealed carry are strict. Most people with criminal records (above a Class C misdemeanor) are ineligible to get a concealed carry license. They’re ineligible if they have pending criminal charges, a psychiatric illness or even just if they are behind on their taxes, child support or student loans.

In other words, it’s only the most law-abiding Texans who get concealed carry licenses. And if an open carry law passes, it will have the same restrictions.

The Texas Department of Public Safety confirms that licensees are law-abiding. It studied violent crime rates for all Texans, and broke out the rates for concealed carry license holders, for all of 2011. There were 2,210 aggravated robbery convictions, for example — and only two of those convicted were license holders. Out of 2,675 convictions for assault with a deadly weapon, three were license holders. Overall, license holders accounted for less than two-tenths of 1 percent of the violent crimes committed in Texas.

The shooting has nothing to do with gun laws, because those involved were self-proclaimed outlaws.