OPINION:
The attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life was a tragic day for America. One person was killed, and two others were seriously wounded. Mere inches separated the Republican candidate from death, and while a terrifying event, it cannot and should not be used to justify gun control.
Thankfully, Mr. Trump is alive and well, but advocates of gun control were quick to demand it in response to this act of political violence.
When Americans fear the ability to exercise their First Amendment right to political assembly, the solution is not to further strip other rights away in response. Emotion cannot be allowed to control and dictate the situation.
The bottom line is this: Gun control would not have prevented this near catastrophe.
Gun control cannot stop a killer from carrying out an evil act. If they can’t access a gun, they will try other means. Just ask the Europeans about the incessant knife attacks they’re seeing or the paradegoers who were gruesomely mowed down with a car in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
In addition, the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022 is perhaps the most compelling case study from which one can glean important lessons. Gun control failed in Japan on that terrible day, mainly because it created a false sense of security. Abe’s assassin manufactured a homemade gun with a metal pipe, wood and duct tape, and the powder was curated from fireworks.
Surely, other measures can mitigate and wholly prevent incidents like the violence in Pennsylvania. A larger security presence, a higher-tech security apparatus and a more aggressive response by law enforcement to initial reports from passersby about the gunman would have certainly done the job. Notably, gun control is not among those recommendations.
This author is a former law enforcement officer who has worked in protective details. They are stressful and challenging, and security can never be 100% foolproof. In this case, each day, it seems more damning information about the security failures comes to light, which is unacceptable.
Sometimes, random causality happens. Bad people can do bad things. Several measures can be undertaken to mitigate the danger, which should have been done in Butler, Pennsylvania. But all the gun control in the world wouldn’t have been what stopped an assassin.
In turn, our leaders must not allow the mob to strip law-abiding Americans of their Second Amendment rights as a result.
Mr. Trump and his Republican colleagues (both on the state and federal level) must stand fast and not bend their knee to emotional pleas. Those who wish to strip us of our rights will not let this or any crisis go to waste.
The demands for an assault weapons ban, an under-21 purchase ban, mandatory storage, universal background checks on guns and ammunition, a magazine capacity ban, and the enactment of more gun-free zones will not stop bad people from breaking the law. It will strip the law-abiding of their rights and hinder their ability to defend themselves.
What caused the violence we witnessed on July 13 wasn’t guns.
Rather, major security failures coupled with the incessant political dehumanization by those on the left created a tinderbox that was ready to ignite.
Mr. Trump and Republican lawmakers need to remember that political appeasement of the left does not work. Agreeing to any gun control measures will not quench their advocates’ thirst for more.
• Luis Valdes is a national spokesman for Gun Owners of America, a grassroots lobbying organization with over 2 million members nationwide.
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