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Title: Is Florida A 'Turning Point' On Guns? Don't Believe The Gun Control Hype
Source:
Investor's Business Daily
URL Source: https://www.investors.com/politics/ ... control-dont-believe-the-hype/
Published: Feb 28, 2018
Author: staff
Post Date: 2018-02-28 11:55:22 by Tooconservative
Keywords: None
Views: 338
Comments: 5
Guns: In the wake of the Florida school shooting, gun control advocates say horrible tragedy marks a fundamental shift in the nation's debate over gun ownership. But that's what they say after every shooting tragedy, and it never happens. Look at the headlines in the major news media and you'd think that the nation is finally ready to accept strict controls on the sale and ownership of guns. "Parkland school shooting seen as turning point for gun control debate," says USA Today. "Why Parkland could be a turning point for gun control," says Vox.com "Sen. Nelson Hopes FL Shooting Is the 'Turning Point' on Gun Control," says Fox News. On and on it goes. The problem is that these same predictions have been made by the same gun control advocates time again. Yet that turning point never arrives. It was just two years ago, in fact, that the same people declared that the Orlando nightclub shooting, which claimed 49 lives "could be a turning point" and that "After Orlando shooting, Americans back stricter gun controls" and that "Sandy Hook didn't change our gun laws. Orlando might." After the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, which claimed the lives of 20 elementary school students, the New York Times declared the attack was "profoundly swaying Americans' views on guns." Trayvon Martin's shooting that same year was supposed to be a "turning point in the gun rights debate." The 2011 shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was also going to "shift the gun control debate." In 1999 then-Vice President Al Gore said the country had reached a "turning point" on gun control. Way back in 1993, a mass shooting at a San Francisco law firm that took eight lives was cited as "a crucial turning point in the gun control movement." It is true that polls taken since the Florida shooting show a spike in support for gun control, students protest for gun control, and there's a backlash against the NRA. But these are nothing new, either. Nor is the blot-out-the-sun media coverage of the gun control debate. But the fact is that, despite the current hysteria, the public's view on guns has barely changed in more than two decades, according to Gallup, which has been polling on this topic since the 1960s. And in the nearly 20 years since Al Gore declared that we were at a turning point, the gun ownership rate in the U.S. climbed from 34% to 42% today, Gallup finds. Meanwhile, at least one poll shows that, despite the blanket coverage by the media on calls for more gun control, 54% of blame failure of government agencies to respond to numerous warning signs from the prospective Florida school shooter. Just a third blame lack of adequate gun control laws, according to the latest Rasmussen poll. So all these "turning point" predictions turn out to be little more than a con by gun control advocates, who hope that if they say it enough it will someday come true. But what the gun control lobby means by "turning point" always involves overreaching and Constitutionally dubious bans on guns they deem "too dangerous," based on flimsy facts, faulty reasoning, puerile attacks on law-abiding gun owners. Their "turning point," in other words, is far outside the mainstream. Case in point is the bill introduced by liberal Democrats that would ban the "sale, transfer, production, and importation" of semi-automatic rifles and pistols that can hold a detachable magazine. The list of specific guns that would be banned tops 200. This bill has zero chance of being enacted into law. The Hill reports that mainstream Democrats are worried about pushing too hard on gun control, because "embracing aggressive new gun restrictions carries risks, particularly in conservative-leaning districts where gun rights are sacrosanct. " Worse, the absolutism of the gun control crowd actually makes it harder to get meaningful improvements in gun laws that will win widespread support and actually could make a difference — such as improvements to the background check system, better security at schools, improved training of school security guards, better coordination among law enforcement agencies and improved mental health efforts. So, don't be surprised if, when the next shooting tragedy inevitably occurs, we will once again be told that — this time — the "turning point" on guns has finally been reached.
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#1. To: Tooconservative, Trump National Golf Club, the answer (#0)
The answer is to reduce government funding and taxes to a small fraction of their present size. If congress can't repeal any of the existing legislation on the books, they should play golf or just go home.
#2. To: hondo68 (#1)
It may mean that the single best hope for the GOP to hold the House and Senate is to play up the very real threat of a big gungrab from Dems if they win control of either house of Congress.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest54% of blame failure of government agencies
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