Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is making headlines for pushing the same tired gun control agenda as former President Joe Biden did in response to December’s fatal school shooting in Madison, a habit which seems prevalent among Democrat anti-gunners.
At the same time, gun prohibitionists out in Washington state also repeated arguments for more gun control by mixing—and misunderstanding—the differences between rights and privileges during a public hearing on several bills before that state’s legislature.
The pattern suggests anti-gunners are running out of arguments, and they are hoping nobody notices their rhetoric is turning rancid.
Live Inventory Price Checker
|
|
PSA PA-15 Classic AR-15 Rifle 5.56 16" Nitride M4 Carbine, Black | Palmetto State Armory | $ 849.99 $ 449.99 |
|
|
PSA PA-15 Classic AR-15 Rifle 5.56 16" Nitride M4 Carbine, Black | Palmetto State Armory | $ 849.99 $ 449.99 |
|
|
SIG Sauer MCX Spear LT AR-15 Rifle 5.56 16" 30rd, FDE - RMCX-556N-16B-LT | Bereli | $ 2225.00 |
|
|
|
IWI Galil Ace Gen II AR-15 Rifle 5.56 16" 30rd, Black - GAR27 | Palmetto State Armory | $ 1899.99 $ 1821.99 |
|
WKOW News is reporting that Evers this week called for “universal background checks for gun purchases” and for a 48-hour waiting period on gun purchases in reaction to December’s tragedy involving a 15-year-old student at the Abundant Life Christian School. The report says he also called for a ban on so-called “ghost guns” and another law closing a “loophole” which allegedly allows gun ownership by “domestic abusers.”
The teen killer, Natalie Rupnow, who went by the name Samantha, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, could not possibly purchase a firearm legally, so there would have been no possibility for her to go through a background check or a waiting period. She didn’t use a “ghost gun,” but instead carried two handguns, only one of which she used.
Last month, when Biden interjected himself into the story, his focus was also on remedies not remotely related to the crime: a ban on “assault weapons” and “high-capacity magazines,” a national “red flag law,” and “universal background checks.”
Evers just created a state office of gun violence prevention, mirroring Biden’s now-defunct White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which President Donald Trump promptly dismantled a day after taking office.
Clearly, according to some observers, the gun control playbook is running out of strategies, and what is left appears to be a recycling of arguments which are becoming pretty worn around the edges.
Out in Olympia, Washington, gun prohibitionists supporting proposed limits on firearm and ammunition purchases, taxes on guns and ammunition, and permits-to-purchase firearms also trot out the same arguments, although they have added some new “packaging” by having high school students offering testimony—reading from prepared statements—rather than adults. And they show up in red or orange T-shirts to impress lawmakers and television cameras.
During a hearing on House Bill 1163, a permit-to-purchase scheme sponsored by Seattle Democrat Rep. Liz Berry, high school senior Julia Berus, reading from a sheet of paper, stated, “Currently, individuals in Washington state need a license for many different activities, from operating a moving vehicle to fishing. However, in order to purchase a firearm, Washington state doesn’t require any license or permit.”
It is the same argument used last year by former Democrat Gov. Jay Inslee, who signed several gun control measures over the past few years including bans on so-called “assault weapons: and “large-capacity magazines,” both of which are now being challenged in court.
It was subsequently pointed out that driving and recreational fishing are state-regulated privileges, while owning and bearing arms are constitutionally-protected fundamental rights assured by both the federal and state constitutions.
If passed, HB 1163 would require completion of a safety course to include a live fire exercise, fingerprinting and a background check in order to obtain the purchase permit.
Washington’s constitutional right-to-bear-arms provision came up in a related discussion regarding House Bill 1132, which would limit gun and ammunition purchases to a single firearm and 1,000 rounds of ammunition, regardless of caliber or gauge. The bill’s sponsor, Democrat Rep. Darya Farivar, sits on the House Judiciary Committee which held the hearing.
When Farivar was asked how her measure might square with Article 1, Section 24 of the state constitution, which guarantees the right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself or the state, she replied, “Well, I’m not an attorney so I don’t know that I would be the best person to really describe how it’s going to interact with our constitution.”
The remark is not faring well among gun owners posting on social media.
In the years since Alan Gottlieb, head of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, co-authored as book titled “Dancing In Blood: Exposing the Gun Ban Lobby’s Playbook to Destroy Your Rights,” gun prohibitionists have continued to use the same basic strategies and arguments to advance their agenda.
While it may not work in Wisconsin, which has a Republican-controlled legislature, out in Washington, the gun control crowd keeps coming back for more from the Democrat-dominated legislature, which seems all too willing to oblige.
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
Since when did the Progressive New Left need evidence to make an argument? Since when have they depended upon reasoned debate to convince people rather than coerce? Look across the broad spectrum of political debate in this country and you find very little reasoned debate. What you find is one side stating a principled case of enumerated rights against another side inciting emotions. You don’t incite emotions by clearly stating the facts of the case. You incite and inflame emotions with propaganda and with invective. If the facts of the case fail to support leftist arguments Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals… Read more »
Maybe liberals have a point. Anybody that comes under fire should simply boogie over to the nearest gun free zone! Where they’ll be safe. And the guy shooting at them is kicked out by the manager. Zero tolerance!
I should’ve pointed out, anti gun nuts will never run out of arguments.
Just think, if in the 21st century, men can become women, and women can become men, then don’t put ANYTHING past these nut cases.
Minnesota’s long required a permit to purchase a handgun. The requirement is waived if one has a permit to carry. But… The thing they don’t tell you on the permit to purchase a handgun, that you must apply for at the nearest law enforcement office, is it’s also needed to buy one of those scary black rifles… I’m serious, the piece of paper the city police chief sends me every year after I fill out another application says it’s a “Permit to purchase handguns”. Yet no mention of any long guns. But… No dealer will sell you an AR15 without… Read more »
Democrats are criminals’ accomplices, aiding and abetting their crimes, by disarming citizens and turning them into defenseless victims in waiting, while refusing to even apply lawfully required punishments for crimes committed. They must be charged as such, since every single politician who votes for infringing gun rights is a criminal. They’re also violating their oath of office and the Constitution. It is really that simple.
They will never run out of arguments and as long as they exist will always be a danger to the 2nd Amendment.