Most of the members of the House Oversight Committee have had tough questions for Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who appeared before the committee on Monday for the first time since the assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump. Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin, on the other hand, used Cheatle's appearance as an opportunity to grandstand for gun control. 

Raskin didn't press Cheatle on how the shooter was able to get into a position to fire on Trump at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, nor did he quiz the Secret Service director about the fact that the shooter was identified as a person of interest about an hour before shots were fired. No, he instead decided to focus on the gun that was used in the attack. Actually, he didn't even focus on that specific firearm, which had been purchased more than a decade before by the killer's father. He went after all AR-15s and other centerfire semi-automatic rifles. 

The top Democrat on the Oversight committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, said the assassination attempt revealed “stunning” and “shocking” security failures of the Secret Service and called for a resumption of the assault weapons ban to protect all Americans. Congress banned the sale of the AR-15, the weapon used July 13 in the shooting, and other semiautomatic firearms in 1994. But the ban lapsed in 2004 and Raskin said shooting deaths began climbing again. Last year, there were 655 mass shootings that killed 712 people and wounded nearly 2,700, he said.

There have been 10 mass shootings since the attempt on Trump’s life, Raskin said, and the rally shooting wasn’t even the deadliest on that day. A mass shooting killed four people and wounded 10 at a nightclub in Birmingham, Alabama.

“The list is a grim reminder of the horrific damage and death wrought by assault weapons and the AR-15 in particular that have taken the lives of our children, parents, colleagues and neighbors,” Raskin said.

To the best of my knowledge, Birmingham police haven't said what type of firearm was used in the shooting cited by Raskin, but overall, handguns are by far the weapon of choice for criminals. According to a 2020 FBI report, 59% of gun-related homicides involved handguns, while just 3% involved rifles of any kind. So why wasn't Raskin demanding Congress pass a ban on handguns, Heller be damned? 

Raskin's diatribe isn't about public safety. It's about political expedience. Democrats want to put Republicans on the defensive when it comes to the Second Amendment, and they believe they can make inroads with voters by pushing for a ban on AR-15s and other modern sporting rifles. While the calls for gun control have been somewhat muted, at least on the part of Democratic politicians, since the attempt on Trump's life, Raskin's line of questioning is a sign that Democrats are going to be much more aggressive going forward; not only using the attempted assassination as their latest excuse to call for a gun ban, but to shift attention away from the failures of the Secret Service under the Biden administration to ensure the safety and security of the candidates under its protection. 

The AR-15 didn't wander around the rally by itself. It didn't scale the wall of a building and crouch down on the roof. There was a disturbed individual who had been identified as a potential risk about an hour before the shots were fired, but who was still able to get into a position to murder the Republican presidential candidate. Jamie Raskin knows this is the case, but he sure didn't act like it during the House Oversight hearing on the Secret Service's mistakes. His attempt to turn the hearing into a gun control rally is truly shameful, as well as a reminder of just how unserious most Democrats are when it comes to matters of public safety.