The Handguns of Thugs

Whose head needs to be examined? I would love a linguist to parse this sentense properly. I know what Brady intended but the quote appears to say that repealing law would only keep guns out of the thugs hands. Either way, does Brady really believe that this law has prevented criminal ‘thugs’ from getting guns?

“Repealing Virginia’s one-handgun-a-month law would be a stupid thing to do, because it only keeps guns out of the hands of thugs,” said Jim Brady, chair of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the former press secretary to President Ronald Reagan. “Jerry Kilgore ought to have his head examined.”

Thanks to Stop the Bleating for find this item.