Guns and Compromise

I tweeted last night that Republicans should not compromise on gun ownership at a time progressives are agitating against family rights, Christians, conservatives, etc. Last week, we witnessed a transgender shooter kill Christians. Police in Colorado stopped another transgender shooter. Then, this week, a leftwing BLM supporter with pronouns on display in his Twitter bio decided to shoot up a bank. The left is turning more and more violent, and the FBI is worried about Catholics, and the press is worried about Republicans.

Some friends assumed my tweet was in reference to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, who is asking the Tennessee legislature to pass a red flag law and who signed an executive order on background checks. The executive order is pretty innocuous — just making sure local and state law enforcement update all appropriate databases as efficiently as possible. I’m of two minds on red flag laws.

My tweet was not about the Governor but about several Republicans I saw suggesting Governor Lee wasn’t going far enough and, in fact, Republicans needed to give up the fantasy of the second amendment. You’ll not be surprised to learn that these same Republicans also believe polling suggests the GOP needs to abandon pro-lifers to win.

Were I in Bill Lee’s shoes, I don’t think I would have done what he did when he did it. Ir provoked responses like this one from progressives:

He won’t get any credit, but will alienate his right flank without mollifying the left. But, he’s not trying to ban guns and I am not in his shoes. His are the shoes weighed down by the man’s grief over the loss of a family friend in the Nashville shooting. He and I have many friends with kids who are in that school. I’m not going to pounce on the man for trying to do something.

But I do think that tweeter above is speaking for more than one progressive who has convinced himself that compromise will require rage and/or violence on the left’s side. These are, after all, the people who fundamentally believe if a bunch of black men were openly carrying AR-15s around America, conservatives would demand gun control. Actually, conservatives would invite them to grill out, drink beers, then use the cans for target practice.

Back in 2014, the New York Times admitted the Assault Weapons Ban did nothing to curb gun violence in America.

[I]n the 10 years since the previous ban lapsed, even gun control advocates acknowledge a larger truth: The law that barred the sale of assault weapons from 1994 to 2004 made little difference.

It turns out that big, scary military rifles don’t kill the vast majority of the 11,000 Americans murdered with guns each year. Little handguns do.

In 2012, only 322 people were murdered with any kind of rifle, F.B.I. data shows.

The continuing focus on assault weapons stems from the media’s obsessive focus on mass shootings, which disproportionately involve weapons like the AR-15, a civilian version of the military M16 rifle. This, in turn, obscures some grim truths about who is really dying from gunshots.

Annually, 5,000 to 6,000 black men are murdered with guns. Black men amount to only 6 percent of the population. Yet of the 30 Americans on average shot to death each day, half are black males.

When Republicans point out the mass shootings in Chicago on a daily basis, Democrats pronounce that because we are not in the “black community” we are not supposed to talk about that issue. We are presumed to be racist for doing so.

But the data in the Times article holds up from 2012 to 2023. You are far more likely to be killed by a handgun than an AR-15. Moreso, if you are a black man, you are far more likely to be murdered with a handgun by another black man.

If Democrats want to meaningfully deal with gun control instead of just fundraising off dead kids, perhaps they should spend more time in urban areas talking to black men about gun violence than telling them their votes are suppressed and they’re in a systemically racist society.

As for conservative compromises on guns, I see no room in which to compromise. You’ll note that Biden signed a gun control measure just last year with GOP support, and the GOP is still constantly vilified on the issue. Not just that, but every time the GOP compromises, the Democrats demand even more. They’re never satiated on the issue.

I see no point in compromising on the issue. If the Democrats are not going to deal with gun violence in largely Democrat voting communities in urban areas, why should Republicans compromise on taking guns from law-abiding citizens who need their guns to protect them from the criminals who Democrat prosecutors have chosen to let out of prison?

We’d stop a lot of gun violence in this country if Democrats would just bother enforcing existing laws. Instead, they’d rather prosecute Donald Trump. Given Alvin Bragg’s record, it really is true that had Trump shot someone on Fifth Avenue, he’d have greater odds of not getting prosecuted.

Lastly, it should be noted that Barack Obama and the Democrats could have quickly reauthorized the assault weapons ban between September 25, 2009, and February 4, 2010, when the Democrats had a 60-seat filibuster-proof majority Senate majority and control of the US House. But they chose not to and fundraised off the issue instead.