It never fails.
There’s a mass shooting of some sort anywhere in the nation and what do we get? President Joe Biden once again trying to push for gun control.
That’s precisely where we are right now.
President Joe Biden called on Republican members of Congress to pass gun control bills in the wake of yet another mass shooting that left nine people dead, including the gunman, at a Texas mall on Saturday.
The shooter was named on Sunday as 33-year-old [name redacted], according to two senior law enforcement officials who spoke to NBC News.
The US president renewed calls for a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, as well as to enact universal background checks and end immunity for gun manufacturers.
There is little chance that the Republican-controlled House or the narrowly Democratic Senate would pass such legislation, despite polls showing most Americans support background checks.
The president said the assailant wore tactical gear and was armed with an AR-15-style assault weapon.
“Such an attack is too shocking to be so familiar. And yet, American communities have suffered roughly 200 mass shootings already this year, according to leading counts,” said Biden, who ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff.
Except there haven’t been any 200 mass shootings. There have been roughly 200 shootings where more than two people were injured. That’s about it.
That number comes from the Gun Violence Archive which has a vested interest in inflating the numbers as much as humanly possible.
Now, don’t get me wrong, there have been far too many mass shootings this year alone. Two recently in Texas, for example. This and one other.
Of course, that one doesn’t help Biden all that much since he’s been hammered over illegal immigration–plus, the illegal immigrant suspect couldn’t buy a firearm lawfully anyway.
Unsurprisingly, though, Biden is going to push in this time around.
Further, we have plenty of people who are ready to claim that Americans want an assault weapon ban. The issue, though, is that even if that is true–and I have questions about that claim–it doesn’t matter because Bruen has made it clear what hurdles have to be cleared in order for a gun control law to be constitutional.
An assault weapon ban doesn’t clear that hurdle. It runs right into it.
Further, let’s remember that there’s nothing we saw in Allen, Texas that couldn’t be carried out with a handgun. Not that I’ve seen, anyway.
For all the hysteria Biden spreads about so-called assault weapons, the truth is that it’s just a firearm. The killer could have murdered every one of those people with a handgun and no assault weapon ban would ever stop such a person.
Let’s not forget that one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern American history–and the deadliest school shooting we’ve ever had–was Virginia Tech, where the killer used a couple of handguns to slaughter innocent students.
The AR-15 is much vilified, but it’s not the problem. It’s never been the problem.
The problem is that people are just flat-out broken and they want to slaughter people for whatever reason. They’ve killed and will continue killing because we’re too busy arguing over the wrong thing.
It’s like people are dying from food poisoning and we’re arguing over what kind of pan the food should have been cooked in.
We’re arguing about the wrong stuff and no matter what the result, it won’t stop these things from happening again and again.
The problem is and has always been that people think this is a good idea. We need to address that if we want to fix the issue.
