According to one reporter for the Michael Bloomberg-funded outfit The Trace, the answer is yes. Alain Stephens says he believes there’s been a political move to discourage gun ownership by limiting or prohibiting gun ranges… even as anti-gunners mandate extensive training requirements to carry a firearm or simply keep one in your home.

Stephens’s surprising comment came about after David Hogg took to Twitter over the weekend to once again share his anti-gun inanity with the world; contending that no one could ever possibly need to have more than ten rounds at the ready in case they need to use their firearm in self-defense. Attorney Kostas Moros took issue with Hogg’s assertion that instead of increased magazine capacity, gun owners just need more training instead.

More range time huh? Ok. So are you going to oppose the many localities that try to zone shooting ranges out of existence?

For example, there isn't a single public shooting range in the City of San Francisco. https://t.co/kawjZmKmhj

— Kostas Moros (@MorosKostas) May 29, 2023

Kostas is right about San Francisco, but he could have also mentioned the District of Columbia, Chicago, Baltimore, Boston, New York City, and Seattle as other deep-blue cities with either no publicly available gun ranges or a “range desert” where there are few options for those who want more education and training. As we noted here just a couple of days ago, the left wants to make it easier to give people a safe place to shoot up than a safe place to go shooting, and you don’t have to be a rock-ribbed conservative or Second Amendment activist to see how the gun control movement loves to mandate training while fighting to keep cities gun-range free.

Okay.

My colleagues will kill me for this.

But, I do believe there has a been a political move to discourage firearms by by defacto bans on training areas.

I think it fails to discourage ownership, and instead builds pools of untrained users. 💁🏾‍♂️

— Alain Stephens (@AlainStephens) May 29, 2023

I don’t know why Stephens’ colleagues would be upset by his statement, unless it’s because he’s saying the quiet part out loud. Gun control activists routinely talk about “fewer guns” and “reducing access” to guns, but what they’re really intent on is inhibiting (and ultimately prohibiting) the exercise of our right to keep and bear arms for all, and imposing ridiculous training mandates while curbing access to that training is just one tool in their tool box.

We’re actually seeing this same phenomenon in reverse in the country of Ecuador, where civilian gun ownership was banned outright by former president Rafael Correa. Last month current president Guillermo Lasso loosened up the outright ban and issued a decree allowing civilians to once again own (and in some cases, carry) a firearm for self-defense, but with few ranges open to the public those Ecuadorians hoping to protect themselves with a firearm are still subject to long waits and onerous training requirements.

Dozens of people are training at the country’s few shooting ranges, after conservative President Guillermo Lasso signed an April decree allowing civilians to carry guns for self-defense after completing a strict approval process.

… “People want to arm themselves and protect themselves because insecurity is really high right now and security forces can’t cope,” said Mario Quinatoa, an instructor at the Ceforsin gun range in Quito.

“You won’t be able to go to the corner store and say ‘give me a pistol or a revolver’, you have to comply with requirements,” National Security Secretary Wagner Bravo told Reuters. “We are not transferring the responsibility to the citizen for them to be the neighborhood policeman, it’s for self-defense.”

Only 9-mm pistols and 38-caliber revolvers are authorized for civilian use under the decree.

Those authorized to carry guns must be older than 25, have no criminal record or history of domestic violence, and pass psychological and firearm abilities exams.

Kevin Paredes, 28, went to a shooting class in Quito because he feels unsafe on the street, but said afterward he was not sure he wanted a permit.

People need at least 30 hours of training to learn to use a pistol and get familiar with rules governing its use, said Jose Bastidas, director of the Kat-Bas shooting club.

That training does not guarantee someone will be approved for a gun permit, he added.