Louisville’s Democrat Mayor Makes Support for Gun Control Litmus Test for Supporting Police

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg (D) used a Tuesday press conference to make support for gun control a litmus test for supporting police.

Greenberg said, “I have two requests today for every Kentucky state senator and every Kentucky state representative who wants to join me in reducing the amount of gun violence in Louisville. First, if you support police officers, like Officer Wilt and Officer Galloway, who heroically ran into a barrage of fire from a waiting assailant with an ‘assault rifle’… please give Louisville the autonomy to deal with our unique gun violence epidemic.”

Greenberg was referencing Kentucky’s preemption law, which forbids cities and municipalities from passing gun controls more stringent than those that exist at the state level.

Mike Bloomberg-affiliated Everytown for Gun Safety notes that more than 40 states have preemption laws.

The goals of such laws are to prevent cities and municipalities from developing a patchwork of laws within a state, where a 15-round magazine may be legal in one county but not in the county that borders it, or an AK-47 may be legal in a city on the state’s eastern side but illegal in a city on the state’s western side.

Mayor Greenberg could work to enact more gun control within the city limits of Louisville if the preemption law was done away with.

Greenberg also wants Kentucky law to be changed so that he is allowed to destroy guns which are confiscated at crime scenes by police. Current Kentucky laws requires those guns to be sold at auction. The money raised in the auctions is sent to the Kentucky Department of Homeland Security, which then gives grants to local police departments.

Greenberg wants the authority to destroy guns confiscated or recovered by police.

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, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. AWR Hawkins holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.