Three weeks have passed since the Las Vegas shooting sent shockwaves throughout America, and many questions remain unanswered. What was the gunman’s motive for such a terrible crime? Why did he choose Las Vegas? Did he have help?
While our dedicated law enforcement officials search for answers, the Left has put its anti-gun agenda into overdrive. This month, California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed three gun control bills, all focused on “adding specific requirements” for gun purchases. As if the gun industry isn’t regulated enough: Gun-buyers often have to wait weeks for background checks to clear before receiving their firearm.
In Massachusetts, Democratic State Rep. David Linsky has introduced a bill that would ban modifications commonly made to firearms, almost always by law-abiding citizens. In Illinois, Democrats introduced an omnibus package aimed at reducing gun ownership. If only they cared as much about addressing Chicago’s gang violence epidemic and supporting local law enforcement as undermining the Second Amendment.
Members of Congress, meanwhile, have put forth sweeping gun control legislation to target bump fire stocks. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and 38 other Senate Democrats recently introduced the Automatic Gunfire Prevention Act, which would ban any device designed to increase rates of fire. In Feinstein’s words: “So we need a law and we have an opportunity to get it. I hope Americans will step up and say enough is enough—Congress, do something.”
Don’t be fooled: Like its predecessors, the Democrats’ new gun control bill is just another attempt to infringe upon the Second Amendment, which enshrines our right to own firearms for hunting, self-defense, and just because.
And don’t assume all Republicans support the Second Amendment. Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) —an establishment insider and rabid anti-Trumper—introduced similar legislation in the House, along with nine other Republicans. Instead of defending the Constitution, Republican insiders like Curbelo are sacrificing their principles for the hope of compromise with left-wing ideologues.
And they’re falling for the Left’s steady stream of misconceptions. The push to ban bump stocks is a curious one, given that they almost certainly made the Las Vegas attacker less effective than he could have been. Bump stocks are not meant to increase precision, making firearms more inaccurate. As U.S. Army Sergeant First Class soldier Tony Cowden explains, the shooter could have inflicted even more damage if he had fired slower and used a sight, rather than relying on a bump stock. Even if these modifications were banned, gun-owners can easily replicate a bump stock with a finger and a belt loop.
This is not to say the Las Vegas shooter was ineffective or failed to inflict truly tragic amounts of harm against innocent civilians. He was effective and he did. But it is to say that the Washington establishment’s gun control vendetta completely misses the point.
Nonetheless, liberal talk show shots will continue flooding the airwaves and newspaper stands with blatant lies. Trevor Noah, host of The Daily Show, went as far as to claim “there’s a mass shooting in America almost every single day.” Not quite: Americans see an average of about three a year—still depressing, but far from one a day. Others lament the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) $3.6 million in contributions to current members of Congress, only to ignore Planned Parenthood’s much heftier political budget. In 2016 alone, the pro-abortion group spent $38 million—more than 10 times the NRA’s spending since 1998.
Fortunately, the American people are tuning out the liberal noise. Most Americans support gun rights over gun control. Even more (65 percent) consider gun ownership as protection against government tyranny, the true intent of the Second Amendment.
In the wake of a senseless tragedy, Americans are seeing yet another politicization of a mass shooting as tragedy in it of itself. Memo to the Left: Two wrongs never make a right.
Amanda Head is host of The Hollywood Conservative.
Views expressed in op-eds are not the views of The Daily Caller.
