Almost immediately after the 2017 Las Vegas shooting came the calls for “common sense” gun control. The quest almost always begins with a reassurance that “no one wants to take away your guns.”
Not everyone read the memo.
Nelson Shields, founder of Handgun Control, Inc., the organization that became the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, in a 1976 interview could not have been more clear about his group’s goals: “Our ultimate goal — total control of handguns in the United States — is going to take time. My estimate is from seven to 10 years. The first problem is to slow down the increasing number of handguns being produced and sold in this country. The second problem is to get handguns registered. And the final problem is to make the possession of all handguns and all handgun ammunition — except for the military, policemen, licensed security guards, licensed sporting clubs, and licensed gun collectors — totally illegal.”
In 1993, a Los Angeles Times editorial called for the repeal of the Second Amendment: “You will not feel safe, your children will not be safe, until there are almost no guns on the streets and in homes. No guns, period, except for those held by law enforcement officers and a few others, including qualified hunters and collectors. … We must, as a nation, move toward a very different model, one that presumptively bars private citizens from owning a firearm unless they can demonstrate a special need and ability to do so. … We think the time has come for Americans to tell the truth about guns. They are not for us; we cannot handle them. They kill people, our children included. It’s time to get rid of them. Period.”
Fast-forward to the Las Vegas shooting. The Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson called for a gun “buyback”: “A real gun debate has to look at that fact: 300 million guns. And we need, you know, to look at what was done in a place like Australia, where they had a gun buyback. And gun control is permissible, according to the Supreme Court. And so if Congress were to decide — it won’t happen — were to decide that automatic assault rifles, long guns … (and) military-style weapons are something that citizens should not have, they should be police and military only, and we’re going to buy them back, that would have an impact. … And that’s what the debate ought to be.”
Recall that Hillary Clinton, during the 2016 election, also gushed over the allegedly successful Australian gun buyback program: “Australia had a huge mass killing about 20, 25 years ago. Canada did as well, so did the U.K. In reaction, they passed much stricter gun laws. … The Australian government as part of trying to clamp down on the availability of automatic weapons, offered a good price for buying hundreds of thousands of guns and basically clamped down going forward, in terms of having more of a background check approach — more of a permitting approach.”
True, Australia, over 20 years ago, banned semi-automatic and self-loading rifles, as well as self-loading and pump-action shotguns. The government offered up to a one-year grace period during which it would buy back the banned firearms at preset “market value” prices, financed by a tax on health insurance. After that, people possessing the banned weapons would be subject to strict penalties, including imprisonment.
But did Australia’s gun buyback program reduce violent gun crime?
No, according to John Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center. “Their firearms homicide rate,” said Lott, “had been falling for a decade prior to the buyback. It continued falling at the same rate after the buyback. There was no sudden drop, just a fairly constant decline that continued even as gun ownership rose back up to previous levels. The armed robbery rate rose in the first five years after the buyback. After another 10 years, the rate had fallen to pre-buyback levels.”
The near-term “common sense” goal of the gun controllers is to ban the “bump stock” that enabled the shooter to turn a semi-automatic into a fully automatic weapon. Never mind that of the modern mass shootings in America, only one killer used a machine gun: Stephen Paddock. And where was this “common sense” when then-President Barack Obama’s ATF approved the bump stock, pronouncing it a part, not a weapon? California has some of the most stringent gun laws in the country, yet has experienced mass shootings, including the San Bernardino shooting in 2015, where 14 were killed.
This is not to say that nothing can be done to make a Las Vegas-style shooting more difficult. But most of these things will be done by private actors. Las Vegas hotel/casino owner Steve Wynn, for example, said his Vegas resorts already had additional security measures in place.
The “common sense” goal of many “gun control activists” is not a ban on this or that feature but a ban on civilian ownership of guns. Just ask the Los Angeles Times.
Larry Elder is a best-selling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an “Elderado,” visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on Twitter @larryelder. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.
Is one a Democrat because they are deranged or are they deranged because they are a Democrat?
ITs a chicken and egg situation for certain!
Ha! I replied before I read your post. You beat me to the punch.
Good job.
I think, one from Column A and one from Column B. (An older reference, but I still like it.)
It’s kinda like a chicken and egg thing. Which came first?
Do you ever find yourself entertaining the fantasy that you are living back in the Old West and whenever a problem needing settling, you whipped out your six-shooter and solved it? It would sure be more tolerable than having to listen to Leftist BS day-in and day-out and never getting anything resolved.
I just read an article, about a mother, who says the FBI groomed her mentally ill son, who is “paranoid schizophrenic”, into becoming a right wing extremist! Which brings me to the 18yr old Uvalde shooter, who managed to have TWO AR-15’s, apparently quite a lot of ammunition, and a vest! How does an unemployed 18yr old obtain all that? Don’t call this a conspiracy theory! The demoncrats think nothing about murdering a baby 28 days AFTER birth, for ANY reason! Is it so difficult to think they could care about MURDERING 19 children, to push their agenda… TOTAL GUN BAN in our country? God save us!
Exactly.. THE GUNS alone, cost 2,400$ or so. ADD the ammo, # of mags and bullet proof vest he had, and ON THE LOW BALL, he supposedly spent over 6 THOUSAND all at once..
SO WHERE IS A 18 yr old, no parents and no job, GETTING THAT KIND OF MONEY!!?!
I read a few days ago in another newsletter site that he won some kind of prize money in a contest. They didn’t go into specifics, even to say what the contest was, or just how much money was in the prize.
But that’s the only reference I’ve read concerning that, so for now I have to file it as apocryphal. But if true it could be the explanation, any other seems to have dark clandestine and conspiratorial definitions about them.
If it was prize money, just report it and end the question.
But if it is the dark stuff, will we ever get the whole story? I sincerely doubt it.
a ,223 AR-15 may cost $2400 in Democrat Ruled States but in Texas an AR-15 can be bought for under $1,000 but with multiple mags and ammo around $1500. But one wonders where did this 18 year old get the $$??
IF ITS really true though, quist, ITS NOT a conspiracy theory..
“You will not be safe until there are ALMOST no guns on the streets.” The magic word is ALMOST. Law enforcement and security guards and criminals who obtained their guns illegally. And with California having an open border it’s not hard to acquire illegal guns And if the idiots wanted to buy back my guns at fair market value, fine, my guns are worth $1,000,000 a piece. That’s fair market value to me. And I’ll need that kind of money to hire my own private security guards. When leftist pervert Bill Clinton had the “assault weapons ban” in place there were at least 5 mass school shootings under his watch and NONE were done with an AR15 or AK47. Gun control does NOT work.
Look at countries who ALREADY PROHIBIT their ‘citizens’ from owning guns.. THE CRIMINALS STILL GET their hands on them..
SO if these nutters get their way, ONLY CRIMINALS (and LE) will have them.. EVERYONE else will be walking targets.
And speaking of buying back gun, and I like your conditions Wilddog, don’t forget that last week, Sacramental California offered to trade $50 gas cards to people who turned in their guns. You know, I remember the first gun buy-backs over a decade ago, and they offered $50 cash. And that was $50 at that value then. Worth way more than now, but still cheap considering the value of the guns that idiots were trading in.
And sure enough, dozens of people responded, and as I said when the story came out last week, they were willing to sacrifice all of their Second Amendments Rights for less than a full tank of gas. Pitiful.
Even Judas got paid more.
Keep in mind the majority of people in California are socialist Democrats and/or illegal immigrants.
THING IS, how CAN it be called a “BUY BACK”, since
A) THE GOVT never sold us those guns
and B) THEY ARE USING OUR OWN MONEY PAID via taxes, to BUY them from us?!
Once again Ituser, you are using logic and irrefutable evidence to argue with Democrat thinking. That’s not a level playing field when debating with Democrats. It angers and confuses them.
And it would be funny to watch if they were not in control right now.
But, what H. F’em.
Even a child should be able to understand: If you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns! If you don’t understand that concept, you are either a leftist or STUPID (but then I repeat myself).
If you outlaw guns, do you really think a hardened criminal is going to say “Aw, shucks, I was going to shoot that guy, but now that it’s illegal, I guess I’m going to have to turn in my gun and get a job and contribute to society!”
If you’re going to ban guns, why not also ban crime? Oh, wait, they already did that. How did that work out?
I realize that libs and baby killing Democrats are just not very smart. So, let me remind you that your Democrat policies are not just hurting conservatives, they are also hurting you, your family and children. Loser criminals also attack Democrats. If you want guns to be confiscated, let your baby killing Democrat politician be the first to give up their armed security.
>> that automatic assault rifles, long guns … (and) military-style weapons are something that citizens should not have, <<
And which civilians have been prohibited from having since 1937. That's why we no longer have mass shootings. Wait …