Democrats Invite Gun Violence Victims as State of the Union Guests

Democrats are inviting gun violence victims and/or their families to attend the State of the Union address as part of the continuing push for more gun control.

For example, the Tallahassee Democrat reports that Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Georgia) is bringing Jeff Brinkley, father of Maura Brinkley. Maura was killed in the November 2, 2018, Hot Yoga shooting.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) will be bringing Parkland high shooting survivor Cameron Kasky:

After 6 yrs of working in Congress to end gun violence, I was losing faith. Moments of silence were never followed by action. But something changed after the Parkland tragedy. The surviving students used their voices to inspire change. That’s why my #SOTU guest is @cameron_kasky

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) February 1, 2019

The irony of these two particular invites–Brinkley and Kasky–is that they tell of story of gun control’s failure in Florida, rather than gun control’s success.

Following the February 14, 2018, Parkland high school shooting lawmakers were pressured to pass a red flag law–allowing gun confiscation–extend waiting periods, and raise the minimum purchase age for long guns, among other things. Gov. Rick Scott (R) signed the gun controls into law on March 9, 2018.

All of Florida’s gun controls–old and new–failed to stop the Hot Yoga attack, which was carried out by a man who legally owned his 9mm handgun. This was the second high profile failure of Florida’s red flag law. The first was the August 26, 2018, attack at Jacksonville Landing.

But Rep. Swalwell is praising the post-Parkland change that resulted in more gun control.

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. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.