Virtue signaling is when you do something that lets everyone know you hold the right opinions, but doesn’t necessarily accomplish anything else.

A lot of people do it, of course. Sometimes, it’s because it’s about all they know to do in a given instance. Other times, it’s because they don’t want to do anything else.

After all, getting your hands dirty is tough.

So what does this have to do with guns, the Second Amendment, violent crime, or whatever? Oh, it’s simple. There are a lot of people who virtue signal while pretending they’re actually trying to stop people from getting shot.

It is just the beginning of March, and the number of victims that have died from gun violence has increased, especially for our youth. The Memphis non-profit, Ride of Tears, took a ride on Sunday, March 6 to raise awareness, begging people to “put the guns down and save our babies.”

Although the organization takes a ride to pay respect to victims who die from gun violence every month, the goal is to not have to take these kinds of rides at all.

On Sunday’s ride, members of the organization rallied together and rode to the places where three young people died due to some form of violence this year.

Residents and loved ones of three victims of violence also joined for a time of commemoration and honor, but it still did not take away the pain and confusion.

…

Vice President of the Ride of Tears non-profit organization, Kenny Lee, explained how he hates that this has been a monthly routine.

“I don’t know what it is going to take, but the Ride of Tears is going to continue to ride until somebody says something and somebody needs to do something,” Lee said.

So…why not do something?

After all, this ride is nothing but virtue signaling and everyone with half a brain knows it. It’s people like Lee doing something to call attention to a problem everyone already knows is a problem, but then not doing anything beyond that.

Seriously, has an event like this ever changed anyone’s mind?

I want to meet one person anywhere on the planet that will honestly tell me that they used to shoot up their neighborhood, robbing and killing people, but then stopped because some event just asked them to put down the gun and they listened.

Just one person like that. Is that too much to ask for?

Well, yeah. It’s too much to ask for because such a person likely doesn’t exist. It’s a fantasy on par with Lord of the Rings to believe virtue signaling will actually make a meaningful difference when it comes to violent crime.

It won’t.

Now, I’m not saying people should be prevented from doing stuff like this. If it makes them feel better, so be it. But they don’t get to pretend they have some kind of moral superiority simply because of their signaled virtue. I support gun rights because I believe it does far, far more than any rides or calls to put down the guns ever will.

Who’s really trying to address the issue in that comparison? It ain’t the guys pleading with people who literally aren’t listening.