For a while, gun control was a non-starter at the federal level. President Barack Obama wanted it, but he knew that Congress would never pass it. He did a few executive orders on guns, tried to make it look like we were responsible for the violence in Mexico–and did it by making FFL holders conduct straw sales knowing full well those guns were going to the cartels–but otherwise wasn’t able to do much of anything.
Things didn’t stay that way, though, because mass shootings happened and the media convinced America that gun control was needed, or enough of them that Democrats started pushing for it non-stop for years on end.
But now, this piece claims that Democrats are backing off on gun control as a priority.
After the third apparent assassination attempt against President Donald Trump in late April and the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk in September, Democratic lawmakers condemned escalating political violence. But they did not call for moving any of their gun control priorities.
The lack of action shows how legislating on firearms has become nearly impossible on Capitol Hill, and how both parties have dug into their own rhetoric. Republicans continue to rally their base around opposition to any firearms control, while Democrats counter that steps should be taken to combat violence but have shown little appetite for that highly politicized fight ahead of the midterms.
Some of the Democrats who championed Congress’ sweeping gun safety reform package that passed in 2022 told NOTUS that apathy is a problem.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) helped lead bipartisan negotiations on the 2022 bill following several high-profile shootings, including one that killed 19 children and two adults at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
“The unfortunate reality of this issue is that we don’t talk about it in the absence of a mass shooting,” Murphy said.
Some lawmakers and interest groups said Democrats need to do more to spotlight the issue in today’s era of heightened political threats.
Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Florida), who was previously the national organizing director for the gun control group March For Our Lives, told NOTUS that Democrats should not wait to regain the majority to press for gun control.
“People want to talk about rhetoric, which I think is part of it, but the fact of the matter is, there’s tough rhetoric in politics around the world, and the amount of political violence in the United States is not touching other places. We should also be talking about the means of political violence,” Frost said.
What’s interesting in this piece is that, sure, people like Murphy and Frost, among others, are discouraged by the lack of movement on gun control, and anti-gun groups say they’re working a bit more at the state level, where they can get some success, but I really don’t see anyone backing off on gun control as a whole.
The problem with the political violence as we’ve seen it, and why it hasn’t sparked gun control calls, may well have more to do with the fact that most of them actually helped shatter the myth that we somehow needed specific gun control laws to combat the violence. Hell, the only successful assassination of someone on the right, the murder of Charlie Kirk, allegedly involved a milsurp bolt-action Mauser rifle from World War II, a gun that would survive any attempt to ban “weapons of war,” ironically enough.
The White House Correspondents Dinner allegedly involved a dude from California, who lawfully bought guns in California–and obeyed the state’s insane gun control laws–then likely broke multiple gun control laws in taking his guns to Washington to attempt to take Trump’s life.
I’m pretty sure that they just couldn’t find a way to spin it into an assault weapon ban, and that’s the only reason it didn’t become a thing.
But I think concerns about voter apathy on the issue don’t really mean it’s not a top priority for them. I think what we’re going to see is what we saw in Virginia, where it was always a top issue; they just won’t talk about it going forward because they know good and well the people aren’t impressed by it.
Maybe I’m paranoid, and they really are stepping away. Maybe they see the backlash brewing in Virginia and don’t want to bring that on themselves elsewhere and will actually bump it down on their list of wants. Maybe I’m completely wrong.
Then again, it’s not like most of their ideas outside of gun control are much better, so why risk it?
Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
Help us continue to report on and expose the Democrats’ gun control policies and schemes. Join Bearing Arms VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Read the full article here
