In the days since a California man armed with a pump action shotgun and a .38 caliber handgun rushed through the security perimeter at the White House Correspondents Dinner with the intent of assassinating President Trump and other top officials, many Democrats and their media allies have downplayed or outright ignored the suspect’s leftist political leanings and have instead focused exclusively on demanding more gun controls.
Pennsylvania Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta took his argument to X, where it did have the response that the anti-gun Democrat was hoping for.
Yea we need a BALLROOM:
Ban
All
Lethal
Loopholes,
Restrict
Ownership
Of
Military-grade weapons— Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (@malcolmkenyatta) April 26, 2026
In addition to the fact that the suspect was armed with arms that cannot even remotely be described as “military-grade”, he apparently took advantage of no “lethal loopholes” in state or federal law. The suspect purchased the shotgun and handgun at California gun stores, where he underwent and passed a background check, as well as sitting through the state’s mandatory 10-day waiting period before he could obtain the guns he’d purchased.
Those purchases were separated by several months, and there’s no reason why either of them would have raised any red flags at the time. So what the heck is Kenyatta talking about?
I doubt that any of those facts matter to Kenyatta. What’s most important is deflecting attention away from the suspect’s political motivations and ideology, even if that means looking like an absolute moron in the process.
A shotgun bought in our favorite and strongest gun control state?
Must be a weapon of war. pic.twitter.com/zTEtVAu9Eg
— National Association for Gun Rights (@gunrights) April 27, 2026
“Lethal loopholes” is going to be the new “gunshow loophole,” isn’t it? pic.twitter.com/anFrxpnLIu
— Ammo.cøm (@ammodotcom) April 27, 2026
He bought non-“military grade” weapons in one of the strictest gun control states in the union, Rep. Bozo.
— Khalil Spencer (@khalil_spencer) April 27, 2026
— Twisty (@TwisterShaw) April 26, 2026
We’ve seen this same deflection at play in the op-ed pages of many newspapers, where editors and columnists are wringing their hands at a nation “awash in weapons” while ignoring a leftist ideology that is steeped in conspiracy theories and awash in hatred for Trump and Republicans.
Americans shouldn’t fear for their lives whether they’re sitting in a classroom, shopping for groceries, taking in a movie at a theater or attending a gala in a Washington, D.C., hotel with the president of the United States. But people in those places, and so many others, are not assured safety in a nation awash with guns and unwilling to take steps to address them.
If there is a forceful response to Saturday’s attack at the Washington Hilton that targeted President Donald Trump and members of his Cabinet, it should be focused on how easily a man with ill intent was able to obtain the weapons to carry out his fiendish plot. But rhetoric after this incident suggests that those in power will once again sidestep that issue, ignoring public opinion supporting gun control measures and leaving those in less secure spaces to fend for themselves.
What new restrictions do the editors of the Virginian-Pilot newspaper want? They don’t say. What additional gun control laws would have stopped this guy from lawfully purchasing a shotgun and a handgun on two separate occasions, passing a background check each time? They don’t say.
Instead, the editors bemoan that average Americans face “the specter of gun violence on a seemingly daily basis.”
This month, a shooting at a bar in Accomack County killed one and injured four. Virginia Beach officials adopted extreme measures following shootings at the Oceanfront that harmed 20 people. And last month, a gunman opened fire on an ROTC classroom at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, killing a beloved instructor and injuring two students.
On and on and on it goes. Will an attempted attack on federal officials break through, propelling those in power with the means to address the persistent danger of gun violence to do so? It’s highly unlikely if their immediate reaction to the shooting is any indication.
One of the suspects in that Accomack bar shooting has been charged with being a violent felon in possession of a firearm. At least one suspec in the Virginia Beach shooting is also facing charges for possessing a firearm in violation of a restraining order. And the ODU attacker was prohibited by law from possessing a firearm after a conviction for trying to aid the terror group ISIS, and allegedly acquired the gun in a sale conducted by a man who’s since been charged with illegally obtaining the gun through a straw purchase.
Again, what additional gun controls would have prevented these individuals from getting their hands on guns when they already broke the law by doing so? After briefly pointing the finger at both Democrats and Republicans for “using dehumanizing language and ginning up anger in the name of politics,” the editors once again call for change without explaining what it is they’re demanding.
What’s left, then, is the question of how a man intent on doing harm was so easily able to obtain the weapons to carry out his attack. The answer, of course, is that this is America, and the same danger faced by the president on Saturday night happens in cities and towns across the country every single day.
There’s one other commonality in the op-eds, soundbites, and social media posts that ignore the suspect while bemoaning other violent crimes: they all ignore the fact that homicides are at record lows across the United States, and violent crime overall (including incidents of “gun violence”) are down substantially as well. That fact is highly inconvenient to their preferred narrative, so they simply don’t acknowledge the real progress that has been made without imposing new curbs on gun ownership.
The forced effort to make Saturday’s shooting a conversation about gun control is an appalling act of cowardice on the part of politicians like Kenyatta and supposed truth-tellers like the editors of the Virginian-Pilot. If they’re demanding a complete ban on gun ownership they should say so. And if they don’t know what additional gun laws would have prevented the suspect from acquiring a gun, then they should just stop talking until they find the courage to condemn those on the left who are normalizing and celebrating acts of political violence.
Editor’s Note: The mainstream media continues to deflect, gaslight, spin, and lie about President Trump, his administration, and conservatives.
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