The Advocate ran a column on March 3 that claimed, legal or illegal, all “guns are the problem” and called for the LGBTQ community to rally for more gun control.
The jumping point for the call for gun control was the June 12, 2016, firearm-based attack at the Orlando Pulse nightclub. The column, written by Igor Volsky and Mark Glaze, both steeped in the gun control movement and who previously used a USA Today column to suggest it was time to go after “legally obtained” firearms, did not focus on the Pulse being a gun-free club and that the gun-free policy guaranteed an armed criminal would face no significant retaliation if he entered with a firearm.
Instead, they wrote:
Here’s the central fact that should guide our actions on gun violence going forward: The Pulse shooter, the Fort Lauderdale airport shooter, and countless other murderers were legally entitled to have firearms. They did everything right — until the moment they started shooting.
Our vision is simple, and unlike the gun lobby’s, it’s actually supported by reality — which is precisely why the gun lobby continues to oppose scientific studies on gun violence. Legally obtained or not, whether by “good guys” or “bad guys,” guns are the problem.
The push for not differentiating between legal and illegal guns was anchored in the Orlando Pulse attack and the Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport attack. In both instances, the attackers fully complied with gun control laws–their guns were “legally obtained”–only to use their guns for evil. The Advocate’s solution for this is to go after all guns, regardless of whether they are acquired lawfully.
Volsky and Glaze admit that gun control is impotent to stop determined attackers, that it has repeatedly failed to stop them. Nonetheless, their solution is more gun control–not simply gun control couched in criminal behavior and criminal possession of guns, but gun control openly fashioned against “legally obtained” firearms, as well.
The Pink Pistols, a gun rights group directed toward the LGBTQ community, reacted to the Orlando Pulse shooting differently. On the day of the attack, Pink Pistols spokeswoman Gwendolyn Patton said, “Let us not reach for the low-hanging fruit of blaming the killer’s guns. Let us stay focused on the fact that someone hated gay people so much they were ready to kill or injure so many.” She continued, “A human being did this. The human being’s tools are unimportant when compared to the bleakness of that person’s soul.”
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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