Bloomberg Business & Economics Contributor Matthew Yglesias is warning the current gun control push will equate to Democrat loses and Republican wins in coming elections.
In an opinion column for Bloomberg, Yglesias pointed out Democrats have responded to high profile shootings with the mantra “Something Must Be Done” ever since the December 14, 2012, attack on Sandy Hook Elementary.
But Yglesias noted the “something” which Democrats choose to do would often have very little effect on the shooting at hand, while costing them votes at the polls.
For example, he pointed out that Democrats pushed a universal background check bill in response to Sandy Hook. However, that legislation would not have prevented the shooting in the first place because “the killer in Sandy Hook… used a weapon owned legally by his mother and wouldn’t have been impeded by any background checks.”
Breitbart News noted Democrats are pushing universal background checks again, in the wake of the high profile attacks in Boulder (March 22, 2021), and the Atlanta-area (March 16, 2021.). However, such checks would have done nothing to hinder, much less prevent, either of those attacks, and the shooter in both instances passed a background check to acquire a gun.
Moreover, Yglesias pointed out that Colorado already has universal background checks, but they did not hinder the Boulder attacker from carrying out his heinous deed.
Regarding other gun control measures, Yglesias noted President Joe Biden exaggerated the support an “assault weapons” ban really has among the American people.
He noted:
Biden was wide of the mark with his confident proclamation during the Democratic primaries that “over 90% of the American people think we have to get assault weapons off the street.” A 2019 analysis found that barely more than 50% of Americans favor an assault weapons ban, even before partisan framings and counterarguments inevitably reduce its support.
Ygelsias’ main point: “Beyond the specifics of the issue, and despite the popularity of Democratic ideas such as background checks, Republicans are the more trusted party on guns.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.
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