As we noted last night, a man shouting “Islamic slogans” brutally stabbed a French police commandant to death on his own doorstep before forcing his way into the home and taking the family hostage. The attacker was killed by police when they stormed the house. Inside they found the police officer’s wife also murdered. Their three year old son survived.

Details emerged overnight that shed some more light on exactly what happened and why a double murder in the Paris suburb of Magnanville is newsworthy here. Among them, the fact that the killer claimed allegiance to ISIS.

First, more on the victims and the attack. Police commander Jean-Baptiste Salvaing, 42, was stabbed nine times in the gut by the terrorist- and he was a terrorist – at around 8:30 p.m. local time. Some three and a half hours later, as a government spokesman was giving a live television interview to a local station, several loud explosions were heard as the police breached the residence. They were ending a stand-off during which the killer held Salvaing’s wife, a police department secretary, and their child hostage.

In the hours the murderer was in the residence, a special RAID unit was in contact with him, presumably attempting hostage negotiations. While they were in contact with him, he pledged his allegiance to ISIS. It is now being investigated as a terror incident. President of France Francois Hollande issued a statement late in the evening that he “strongly condemns this odious act” and announcing a meeting with “top officials” in the morning.

“A police commander and his partner, a civil servant at the interior ministry, were shamefully murdered this evening,’ he said. “All light will be shed on the circumstances of this terrible tragedy.”

The fact that the attacker pledged his allegiance to ISIS during the commission of his crime should strike a ghastly note of familiarity to Americans today. It is exactly what the ISIS committed attacker in Orlando did during his killing spree at the Pulse nightclub. In science two events may not indicate a pattern, but in terrorism you better not waste time before recognizing one.

The other damning similarity is that ISIS claimed him as one of their own, naming him an ‘Islamic State fighter’ through their Amaq news agency, just as they did with the Orlando killer. ISIS doesn’t make such claims as casually as you might think. Consider the following from the New York Times‘ Rukmini Callimachi.

On pledging allegiance to ISIS:

26. As early as 2014, ISIS explained that *anyone* could carry out an act of terror in their name. "Do not ask for permission," Adnani said

— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) June 12, 2016

27. They later codified this, and advised that their supporters should pledge allegiance in a public forum, before carrying out the attack

— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) June 12, 2016

On ISIS claiming responsibility:

@SluggahJells2 That is factually inaccurate. Please review past attacks. Ex: Whole world assumed they had done EgyptAir. They never claimed

— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) June 12, 2016

@liberalstrawman That is factually inaccurate. Pls show me the attack claimed by ISIS or AQ that they didn't do. Only a few rare ex's exist

— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) June 12, 2016

This is two attacks where the terrorists publicly pledged allegiance to ISIS while committing their crimes, exactly as ISIS has instructed “lone wolves” to do, and the second during this year’s Ramadan. There is increased “holiness” in committing these acts against the infidels during the holy month. It has “historically been a time when both Al Qaeda and now the Islamic State have escalated attacks,” says the New York Times.

And the group has exhorted their supporters around the world to do exactly what both of these attackers have done:

In his annual pre-Ramadan speech, an Islamic State spokesman, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani — who had not issued a statement in approximately seven months — re-emerged to call on the group’s followers to carry out assaults in Europe and America.

“The smallest action you do in the heart of their land is dearer to us than the largest action by us,” Mr. Adnani declared in the audio speech, which was uploaded to Telegram and Twitter on May 21.

A large action, here in America. A small one, there, in a quiet Paris suburb. One with a gun. One with a knife. One with many victims, one with two. But will we weigh the Magnanville family less? Will we find their murder less offensive? Gun controllers do. They would rather take away your defense against “ISIS fighters” than address the actual problem: ISIS, in this case. Radical Islam, in the broader picture.

Gun control wouldn’t have, and did not save Jean-Baptiste Salvaing or his wife. It did not stop a terrorist from making an orphan of a three year old child in France. It won’t stop terror. It is beyond callous and surpassing absurd to count casualties instead of seeking solutions, to demand regulation of an object instead of action against an enemy. It is cowardly.

Ramadan continues until July 5. Two have struck so far, and the death toll between them is 51. Will Democrats act? Or will they merely perform?