OPINION:
When President Biden visited a church in Uvalde, Texas, a few days after the tragic school shooting at an elementary school, he was met with a chorus of chants, “Do something!” “We will,” he promised.
Democrats in Washington have promised the American people that they will pass gun-control measures in response to the recent shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas. The Democrats’ latest gun-control push will not accomplish anything that comes close to addressing the underlying causes of gun violence.
The left has only one tired answer for gun violence — confiscate guns. Beto O’Rourke, while running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2019, gained notoriety when he bluntly declared, “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47.” He may have been more direct in his assault on the Second Amendment, but he was voicing an opinion most Democrats in Congress share.
The gun-confiscation agenda in Washington rests on a series of falsehoods. Without those outright misrepresentations of facts, the gun-control arguments could never advance.
Washington Democrats distort gun violence statistics. While it is true that the AR-15 has been used in several recent mass shootings, the vast majority of gun violence in this country occurs with a handgun. Nowhere are failed Democrat policies more evident than in large cities in America. The near-daily Chicago shootings, which the left cannot be bothered to discuss or even acknowledge, are almost all carried out with handguns. But don’t expect to hear that from the gun-control advocates.
A further falsehood from the left is that there is any demonstrable success from past gun-control efforts. Establishing schools as gun-free zones in 1990, implementing background checks in 1993, and the so-called assault weapons ban in 1994 have not reduced mass shootings. In fact, making schools gun-free zones has had the perverse effect of telling would-be shooters that they will meet very little resistance, if any, by entering schools with murderous intent.
Chicago and Washington have both had, at times, some of the nation’s strictest gun laws. Gun violence soared under those laws, as did crime in almost every category. Gun control simply doesn’t work, and a serious discussion about reducing gun violence would at least recognize these two cities’ (and other Democrat-run cities’) terrible track records on violent crime.
After each of the Democrats’ failures in the area of gun control, we hear the left’s go-to line, “We just need more.” Wider confiscation, more barriers to lawful gun ownership, and more roadblocks to exercising the Second Amendment. There is never an opportunity for Americans to evaluate the appalling failure of the left’s gun policies because the discussion is stymied with calls for more of the same.
If we want to get serious about preventing future mass shootings, we should look at all of the underlying contributing factors. Mass shootings are almost always conducted by disturbed young males. The left is at a fever pitch these days, determined to try to convince Americans that there are no gender differences. But there are, and we should work to identify these troubled young men and provide the help they need.
The breakdown of the family and the resulting fatherless homes must also be addressed. The left routinely ignores any possible connection between healthy families and gun violence reduction. Social welfare policies from the war on poverty increase single-parent families.
Beyond the long-term need for repairing our social ills, there are serious measures in the short-term that the government could take. At the federal level, facilitating better communication among government agencies about individuals who are not eligible to purchase a firearm would be a significant step. At the state and local levels, police need better training and funding. The left’s attempts to defund the police are dangerous and misguided, and information coming out of Uvalde is a reminder that our cities need efficient police officers trained in addressing violent crises — not trained in the left’s diversity programs of the day.
The American public is ready for a serious discussion about reducing gun violence in this country. The left misreads the calls to “do something!” and is doubling down on the failed gun-control policies of the past.
“Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15” works well as a leftist’s campaign slogan or fundraising appeal. It fails miserably, however, as a prescription for reducing gun violence.
• Ken Buck is an American lawyer and politician who represents Colorado’s 4th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican.
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