You probably won't hear the words "gun control" mentioned at the DNC tonight. Instead, Democrats will be talking up their "gun safety" and "gun reform" plans to combat "gun violence", and probably in the vaguest of possible terms. They'll talk about prohibiting "weapons of war", for instance, instead of saying what they really want: to ban the sale and possession of the most popular rifles in the country. They'll tout their support for "universal" background checks and gun licensing laws, ignoring the fact that criminals in Chicago can get their hands on a gun much faster than those who try to follow the law. And I doubt they'll mention the armed robbery of a DNC delegate from Texas in Chicago, which would only highlight the failures of Illinois' gun laws. 

Instead, the DNC will highlight gun control activists like Gabby Giffords, Lucy McBath, and the Tennessee Democrat legislators who held a protest on the House floor in Nashville to demand more restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms after the Covenant School shooting in Nashville; all of whom will have primetime speaking gigs from the DNC stage. 

McBath will moderate a conversation with activists and gun violence survivors from across the country, including Abbey Clements, a second grade teacher and survivor of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, and Kimberly Rubio, whose daughter was killed in a 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

"Stories matter. People's lived experiences matter," McBath said about the importance of taking the stage alongside other survivors of gun violence.

"We're not numbers and statistics. We're ... real, live human beings having such traumatic experiences that do not have to happen," she added.

In other words, tonight won't feature a lot of policy specifics. Democrats will be playing on the emotions of viewers, offering the false promise of increased safety so long as we're willing to sacrifice one of our most fundamental civil rights. According to the anti-gunners, the only way to stop "gun violence" is through more gun con... er, "commonsense gun safety regulations", even though reality has already proven them wrong.

“More guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens is probably a deterrent,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “Recent data shows a 6.7 percent increase in gun ownership between 2017 and 2023, and during that period, gun ownership among women went up 13.6 percent.”

According to an FBI announcement, “A comparison of data from agencies that voluntarily submitted at least two or more common months of data for January through March 2023 and 2024 indicates reported violent crime decreased by 15.2 percent. Murder decreased by 26.4 percent, rape decreased by 25.7 percent, robbery decreased by 17.8 percent, and aggravated assault decreased by 12.5 percent. Reported property crime also decreased by 15.1 percent.”

“This is a significant report,” Gottlieb said, “because it literally destroys a myth that has been perpetuated for years by the gun prohibition lobby, that more guns results in more violent crime. Today, 29 states have passed laws eliminating the need for permits to carry firearms for personal protection, yet crime is down. More than 21 million Americans are licensed to carry, according to the most recent available data, suggesting they aren’t a problem, but might be part of the solution.”

This is one reason why McBath and other activists don't want to talk about numbers and statistics. Violent crime is down across most of the country, according to the FBI, even in permitmess carry states like Florida, Texas, and Ohio. Based on the most recent statistics, murders have declined by 21% in Dallas this year, 24% in Kansas City, 34% in Cleveland, and 26% in Phoenix. 

You won't hear those numbers cited at the DNC this evening, though Kamala Harris will almost certainly try to take credit for the numbers reported by the FBI. 

A Harris-Walz official pointed out that Harris supported the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act President Joe Biden signed into law in 2022, which imposed federal penalties for the straw trafficking of firearms, enhanced background checks of people buying guns under age 21 and closed loopholes that had allowed people who were guilty of domestic violence against nonmarried partners to buy firearms.

Harris "didn't just wake up one day and start doing this work," McBath said, adding: "She's been doing this work. She's been committed in the community for years, for decades, and so I cannot think about a greater time when there has been more excitement and energy and passion about saving people's lives than we have right now."

It's true that Harris didn't suddenly embrace gun control, unlike her running mate. She has a long history of outright hostility towards the Second Amendment, including her support for Washington, D.C.'s ban on handguns, which she argued was perfectly constitutional back when she was the District Attorney in San Francisco. More recently, Harris has claimed the Supreme Court's decision in Bruen, which struck down arbitrary and capricious "may issue" carry laws (like those in California), "defies common sense and the Constitution". And as the ostensible head of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, Harris has overseen the ATF's push to enact new gun control laws through executive branch rulemaking; no surprise given her previous statements that she would ban "assault weapons" via an executive order. 

Many of tonight's speakers will offer powerfully emotional testimony about the losses they have suffered as a result of violent crime. We can empathize and sympathize with them, but that doesn't mean that we have to embrace their "solutions", especially when the evidence is clear that more guns doesn't equate to more crimes, and more gun control doesn't lead to greater safety. 

In 1991, D.C.'s handgun ban had been in place for well over a decade. The District saw 482 homicides that year. The number of murders gradually declined over the following decade, mirroring national trends, but in 2008 (the last year the handgun ban was in place), D.C. still had 196 homicides. In 2009, after the Heller decision did away with the District's ban on handguns, murders continued to decline to 145, and eventually fell to just 88 homicides in 2012 before they started to tick up once more. 

D.C.'s gun ban never stopped criminals from obtaining weapons. It only prevented lawful residents from keeping and bearing arms to protect themselves. D.C. still has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the country, and its crime woes haven't disappeared, thanks in large part to a dysfunctional criminal justice system established and "reformed" by D.C.'s one-party government. 

When Democrats talk about "gun safety" tonight, they mean gun control. When they talk about combatting "gun violence", they're really talking about reducing gun ownership. And when they say that only "commonsense gun reforms" can make this country a safer place, they're lying through their teeth. 

If you want the truth about our right to keep and bear arms and how we can reduce violent crime without attacking the Second Amendment, you won't find it at the DNC. You can, however, get a daily dose of 2A truth-telling when you sign up to become a VIP or VIP Gold member here at Bearing Arms, and right now you can get 60% off your membership when you use the promo code FIGHT. If you're already a member, thank you very much for your support! If not, now's a great time to access the exclusive stories and other benefits of a VIP or VIP Gold membership while helping to save the Second Amendment at the same time.