If the definition of insanity is to do something over and over and expect different results, the entire Democratic caucus needs to be committed. Time and time again over the last decade, Democrats have tried to pass legislation that would limit the rights of individuals to keep and bear arms, and time and time again they’ve failed.
They’re doing it “for the kids,” of course, and because they’re scared to death of guns. But the insanity of believing that restrictions placed on law-abiding citizens will reduce crimes committed with a gun belies belief. Cities and states with the toughest gun laws have the highest rate of gun deaths and shootings. That singular fact is lost in the debate to “save lives” through regulation.
Congress is taking another stab at gun control, passing a gun registration measure that doesn’t solve anything but allows members to go home and claim they’re “trying to do something about the problem” of gun violence. Do people really believe them anymore?
If they do, they’re listening to crazies.
The first bill, which passed 227-203, is designed to close loopholes to ensure background checks are extended to private and online sales that often go undetected, including at gun shows. The legislation includes limited exceptions allowing temporary transfers to prevent imminent harm, for use at a target range and for gifts from family, among others.
The second bill, which passed 219-210, would extend the review period for background checks from three to 10 days. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., introduced the legislation after a shooter killed nine people at a Charleston, S.C., church in 2015. The FBI said afterward that a background check examiner never saw the shooter’s previous arrest report because the wrong arresting agency was listed in state criminal history records, and the gun dealer was legally permitted to complete the transaction after three days.
Follow the logic if you dare. A clerical error led to an inaccurate background check and laws already in place would have stopped the sale and kept the killer from going on his spree. Would lengthening the waiting period to 10 days have saved those lives? Of course not. Unless you believe that the background-check examiner would have realized his mistake if only he had a little more time, the outcome would have been the same.
This was a political gesture — a sop to the gun-control lobby that wants guns off the street, out of the homes, and dumped in the ocean. It’s a meaningless law with a meaningless purpose. But it’s dangerous because of what it portends if Democrats increase their majorities in 2022. Let them get a filibuster-proof Senate or — worse — destroy the filibuster, and we can expect the most serious assault on Second Amendment rights in history.
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