Our country is in a state of upheaval. There is a real sense of dread and concern over when – not if – the next mass shooting or, God forbid, school massacre may occur.
There is no sane person who believes this is acceptable — that this is the price Americans must pay in order to live in a society devoid of senseless tragedy while maintaining their Second Amendment rights.
No logical Republican believes that the slaughter of innocent children and citizens is anything other than a terrible tragedy, regardless of what commentators on television and Twitter say.
However, for a variety of reasons, America has been unable to progress on this tough and sensitive topic. It is self-evident that we are in desperate need of direction.
Unfortunately, President Joe Biden failed to deliver – yet again – in his prime-time statement on gun violence and mass shootings on Thursday night.
I have never felt comfortable addressing my views in the immediate aftermath of shootings out of respect for the victims and their families, but I believe it is now vital to do so as the discussion – once again – spirals out of hand.
After maniacs go on murdering sprees, the mainstream media always finds it simpler and more easy to paint all gun owners with a wide brush.
The reality is that people who abide by gun laws, use firearms safely and responsibly, and keep guns in their homes for personal protection don’t matter to the talking heads in moments like these.
ime and again they resort to a caustic and visceral reaction. They scream at Second Amendment supporters to DO SOMETHING! DO SOMETHING!
The critics and the politicians who echo them act as if there is a simple answer that we have all somehow been avoiding. Deep down, however, the ugly truth is there is nothing simple about this problem and there is no simple solution.
Biden was vice president when the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting happened. At the time, Democrats controlled the White House and Senate and even then they could not pass major gun reform legislation.
Ignoring this reality is nearly as bad as ignoring the problem itself.
Right now, a small bipartisan group of senators are at work – trying to reach compromise legislation that will pass Congress and hopefully inch the country towards new laws to address the scourge of mass shootings.
Among the issues potentially being addressed are federal legislation to encourage more states to pass ‘red flag’ laws that enable law enforcement to seize the weapons of potentially dangerous people and an expansion of background checks.
I am a proud gun-owner and Second Amendment supporter and I support both proposals. So do most Americans.
But last night, Biden made the senators’ jobs even harder.
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows the president’s approval rating at 42%, with only 32% of independents and 12% of Republicans approving of his handling of the job.
Why the president thinks that he can bring that country together on this issue is a mystery to me. Honestly, I think this lifelong political animal just couldn’t resist the limelight.
This week, Biden repeated the false claim that, ‘You couldn’t buy a cannon when the Second Amendment was passed. You couldn’t go out and purchase a lot of weapons.’
That’s not true – yet he keeps saying it.
Then he suggested banning 9mm handguns, which are among most commonly-owned weapons in America.
And of course, the president could not resist pointing the finger of blame at Republicans on Thursday night, calling the objections of many GOP Senators to new gun control measures ‘unconscionable’.
The fact of the matter is that gun owners and Second Amendment supporters do not see the president as credible on this issue.
When a gun owner hears President Biden say that ‘the Constitution and the Second Amendment was never meant to be absolute’ all they hear is: ‘Even if you obey the law and present no threat to others, we’re going to take your guns.’
They believe New York Congressman Mondaire Jones represents a major portion of the Democratic Party when he pledges to stacking the Supreme Court, removing the Senate filibuster, and changing the Constitution to limit gun ownership.
When Beto O’Rourke, a perennial contender, screams ‘Hell yeah, we want to take your firearms’ on a debate platform, he sounds like the far-left fanatics that gun owners know can’t be trusted.
One of the concerns among gun owners is that when Democrats call for change, they truly want America to follow Australia’s lead and outlaw weapons completely.
Here’s what I’m certain of: President Biden can’t do it alone, and vilifying lawful gun owners and Republicans serves no purpose for this administration.
The rhetoric just serves to force each side farther into their ideological corners.
Democrats and the president, like Republicans and Second Amendment advocates, must be careful with their words and rhetoric during such tumultuous times.
Biden should be focusing on bringing people together rather than driving them away at this time.