As another horrific mass shooting plays out, Democrats are insisting on immediate action on guns while one prominent second amendment advocate says best way to protect Americans is to abolish a misguided attempt to keep them safe.
As the story unfolded Wednesday afternoon, Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton immediately demanded action.
“I refuse to accept this as normal. We must take action to stop gun violence now,” tweeted Clinton.
“Horrifying news out of #SanBernardino Enough is enough: it’s time to stand up to the @NRA and enact meaningful gun safety laws,” added fellow 2016 hopeful Martin O’Malley, who passed major gun control legislation while governor of Maryland in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School killings.
Clinton’s closest rival for the Democratic nomination, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, also spoke via social media.
“Mass shootings are becoming an almost-everyday occurrence in this country. This sickening and senseless gun violence must stop,” tweeted Sanders.
Meanwhile, reports from Capitol Hill suggest Democrats may move to add gun control amendments to must-pass spending legislation that will be voted on in the next nine days. There has been no explanation of what the amendments would entail, but tightening gun ownership eligibility and banning certain firearms are often among their priorities.
They spoke out in the wake of Wednesday’s mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, where people were killed by husband and wife terrorists who briefly escaped before dying in a shootout with police. Gun Owners of America Executive Director Larry Pratt says he likes the idea of adding gun-related amendments to the legislation, just not the ones the Democrats have in mind.
“Gun Owners of America has been seeking for some time for some measures of their own to pass. We’d like to see some amendments added to their list of amendments that would do away with gun free zones, which is where almost all of the victims of mass murder have occurred in our country,” said Pratt.
Pratt says those gun free zones seemed appealing in concept but serve as a target for those bent on taking lives.
“Stop disarming the American people. We’ve simply got to do away with this dreadful statistic that tells us that if you’re in a gun-free zone, you’re in a very dangerous area,” said Pratt.
He says the track record over the past 65 years is stunning.
“Since 1950, all but two of our mass murders have occurred in gun free zones. It seems to me that there’s a lesson crying out to be learned there, but people like the president don’t seem to be very apt pupils,” said Pratt.
While Pratt hopes the Republican majorities would consider his amendments and stand firm against attempts by Democrats to limit gun rights, he says the GOP could end up giving in if Democrats play hardball.
“It’s possible that the Republicans might cave if the Democrats set the stage in such a way that they could slow the government down, aka shut the government down over a budget measure, that if it doesn’t have an amendment they want, they’re not going to vote for it,” said Pratt.
He also fears Republicans might feel pressured to give ground if an ultimatum comes from the White House.
“If the president simply were not going to sign [a funding bill] that didn’t have what they wanted in it, if they could figure out how to blame Republicans for that, the Republicans would probably cry like little girls,” said Pratt.
However, Pratt warns that while Democrats try to squeeze out a legislative win, the party could suffer mightily at the ballot box. He says the 2000 primary battle between Democrats Al Gore and Bill Bradley is a good example.
“They tried to out-anti-second amendment each other. Al Gore won that contest, but he went on to lose the election. If the past is prologue to the future, I would say what the Democrats are proposing is going to sink whatever chances they might have had for 2016. It’s going to sink them pretty deep,” said Pratt.
Despite the spate of mass shootings this year, Pratt does not believe the American people are softening towards Obama’s stance on guns. He says the facts suggest just the opposite.
“For the past six, seven years, the president has been winning awards from the gun industry and I’m only being about 50 percent facetious because he has his likeness on walls of gun stores across America, with the caption ‘Gun Salesman of the Year,'” said Pratt.
He says Obama’s disconnect with the facts was also on full display in Paris this week.
“He recently went over to Paris, the scene of a horrendous mass murder and said we’ve got to put a stop to what’s happening in the United States,” said Pratt. “He said said this sort of thing doesn’t happen over here. Huh?”
Pratt is confident any congressional gun control push can be derailed, but he says lawmakers will be put on notice right away nonetheless.
“We’re going to do everything we can to remind all members of Congress that you’re taking your political career and putting it at risk. If you try to blame gun owners for what bad guys do instead of looking at the mirror and say, ‘What have I done as a member of Congress to facilitate what these people do?'” said Pratt.
