Killer’s toolkit

Four more cops came within inches of losing their lives this weekend. Blame not only the gun-wielding maniac who pulled the trigger, but the gun lobby that goes to the ends of the Earth to make freely available weapons designed to maim and kill other human beings.

Career criminal Nakwon Foxworth, accused of spraying the four officers with bullets in his Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, apartment, allegedly had in hand a 9-mm. semiautomatic. It was illegal in New York, but thanks to lax gun laws in other states and Washington, the formidable weapon is a life-threatening commonplace in the hands of violent thugs like Foxworth.

He also had something much worse — which he could easily have grabbed if things had played out differently. Cops found in his apartment a sawed-off Ruger Mini-14 military-style semiautomatic rifle.

This weapon’s killing power is well known. Sometimes called the poor man’s assault rifle, the Mini-14 was reportedly the weapon of choice of Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian mass murderer who shot 69 mostly young people to death last summer.

The NYPD said the Ruger is so powerful, it could have pierced the ballistics shield carried by the first officer through Foxworth’s door.

A firearm this potent should be banned everywhere in the United States. No exceptions. But the federal assault weapons ban expired in 2004, and gutless congressmen under the sway of the National Rifle Association have failed to re-up it.

The Mini-14 that police found in the apartment was bought in Florida in 1998 — how it evaded the weapons ban back then is unclear — and reported stolen in 2007. The 9-mm. was bought in Wilmington, N.C., in 2002.

Both states require background checks that are, to put it bluntly, a joke compared with those mandated in New York.

Unless members of Congress are pleased with cops — whom they never miss an opportunity to praise — being put in the cross hairs, this is simple. Grow a spine. Start with federally mandated background checks on all gun sales, not just on those by registered dealers. Purchases at gun shows and through the Internet fly largely under the radar.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence estimates that 40% of sales are done without background checks. Then, reinstate the assault weapons ban, and make sure that it includes the weapon found in Foxworth’s apartment.

Sure, the NRA has plenty of money — and isn’t afraid to spend it to influence lawmakers in Washington or in state capitals across the country.

Will Congress continue to live in fear of the NRA, or will the NRA start to live in fear of those who tell the truth — namely, that the gun nuts are aiding and abetting those who prey on the people whose job it is to protect us from crime?

This madness must stop.