Baltimore, just a couple of years ago, was a very, very dangerous place. I wouldn't go there willingly without an armored tank division with me, but if I were forced to go, I'd at least want to be carrying a firearm everywhere I went.
Unfortunately, Maryland isn't friendly toward guns, which didn't seem to do much to make Baltimore safer.
Yet, through a lot of work and some very good policies, Baltimore is much safer than it was. That's something to celebrate, to be sure.
As my friend Dan Wos notes over at Ammoland, though, the mayor may acknowledge "human violence," but still wants to blame the guns.
Take Baltimore, for example. In a recent announcement, Mayor Brandon Scott admitted that maybe, just maybe, it’s time to focus on the criminals instead of the guns. His statement, made during an interview on MSNBC, came with the unveiling of a new “comprehensive violence prevention plan.” While the mayor still places the blame on “gun violence,” he at least acknowledges the role of “human violence.” It’s a small step, but it’s a step in the right direction.
In Baltimore, we know that gun violence is a public health issue. Now, because of our Comprehensive Violence Prevention Plan, we’re seeing the lowest number of homicides in decades.
— Brandon M. Scott (@MayorBMScott) July 12, 2025
Thank you @MSNBC for having me and @randallwoodfin on to discuss our historic progress. pic.twitter.com/Q81YVGlKtiHowever, let’s not rush to give Scott credit just yet. This change in tone comes after intense pressure from both local citizens and pro-Second Amendment advocates who are demanding blue-state officials uphold their oath and defend the Bill of Rights. Scott’s newfound focus on addressing criminal behavior is likely a political move, one that acknowledges the mounting frustrations of his constituents who are fed up with the same old song and dance from politicians who refuse to hold criminals accountable.
But let’s be clear, it remains to be seen whether Scott will follow through and prosecute criminals. Democrats haven’t inspired much confidence in this area. The political left has long ignored the need to hold violent offenders accountable, so it’s anyone’s guess whether this “new focus” will lead to real change. Still, it’s worth noting that even if Scott does take some action, it would be a refreshing break from the usual mantra of gun control without consequences for those committing the crimes.
What’s truly ironic about this situation is that Mayor Scott’s administration continues to boast about the success of its lawsuit against Polymer 80, a company that manufactures parts for firearms. Despite all the hoopla, the lawsuit had little to no impact on reducing crime in Baltimore. The city’s already slight downward crime trajectory since the 2020 left-wing riots was largely the result of increased police presence and better community policing, not restrictions on firearm manufacturers. Yet, the Mayor persists in pretending that suing a parts manufacturer is the real solution to the violence in his city. In reality, by the time Democrat supporters nearly burned Baltimore to the ground during the 2020 riots, violence in the city had reached a level where it couldn’t possibly had gotten much worse.
I honestly don't care if Scott is working politics or actually believes this is the direction to go. He's heading the right way, and I want to applaud it, even if it is just a cynical, calculated move designed to keep him in office.
But the fact that he's still so fixated on Polymer 80 is troubling.
The truth of the matter is that gun parts come from a variety of places, and Polymer 80 was selling a lawful product. The company did nothing wrong, in my view, because there was no law against what they were doing, and people have the right to keep and bear arms, which they were facilitating.
And yes, a lot of law-abiding people like to make their own guns. The fact that the ATF keeps trying to create an illegal gun registry with the Form 4473s just encourages many to do so because they don't want the government knowing what they've got.
I don't blame them. It's why my first AK was from a kit, for crying out loud.
Scott's fixation on them suggests that yes, he still blames guns for Baltimore's issues, even as he focused his attention on the perpetrators.
Yet his focus was on "human violence" just the same, and that's a good thing, because of the argument we've all made in some way, shape, or form a thousand times: If you remove the guns from the equation, you just make violent people use another weapon instead of a gun. If you address the human factor, you nip violence in the bud.
It's people.
It's always been people.
That's why our non-gun homicide rate is so much higher than the total homicide rate of many other developed nations.
Scott deserves to be applauded for doing the right thing, even if he's just bowing to political pressure. However, I'd really prefer he wake up and recognize that the issue isn't guns and do the right thing because he's recognized that it's the right thing.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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