The increase in catalytic converter thefts in California has been, in a word, exhausting.
Listen to these numbers: in Los Angeles alone, nearly 8,000 catalytic converter components have been stolen — an eye-popping 728 percent increase since 2018.
In response to this madness, the Los Angeles City Council passed a motion on an 8 to 4 vote that would make it unlawful for any person to possess a detached catalytic converter unless valid documentation or other proof of lawful possession can be produced.
Who could possibly be opposed to making possession of a stolen catalytic converter a crime? My guess would be far-left prosecutors, their ideological clones on the city council, and potentially, Craig’s List.
Turns out, I’m right! Apologists for converter thieves say it’s the manufacturers’ fault for making them too easy to steal. Maybe every catalytic converter should be under lock and key in a glass case like the merchandise at CVS.
At a town hall event explaining her vote, Democratic L.A. Councilwoman Nithya Raman placed all of the blame on … Toyota!
“In this case, I think one of the things that infuriates me is that we have a company — whatever, Toyota — who makes the Prius, that essentially has a device on their cars which is super easy to remove. It’s basically the value of a MacBook, right?” said Raman.
“That is put in a place that is incredibly easy to access in your car, and the thefts related to this issue have essentially — all of the costs of that — are given to us to bear instead of them [Toyota] having to manufacture a car that actually is not so easy to be stolen.”
You heard her right, instead of blaming car thieves, Raman is blaming the manufacturers and car owners for making car theft too easy.
If that’s not crazy enough, “abolish the police” councilwoman, and fellow Democrat, Eunises Hernandez, took it a step further.
Hernandez said, “Criminalizing the mere possession of a catalytic converter, I think is…
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