As 2020 Democratic presidential candidates continue to run on a gun violence platform that demonizes the gun lobby and the Trump administration, are authorities really doing enough to take guns out of the hands of criminals and those who are mentally unstable?
Of course, Democrats will say that not enough is being done, but the Trump re-election campaign differs.
Remember, “gun violence” refers to all guns, not just those weapons primarily used in recent “mass shootings.”
Democrats like Robert Francis O’Rourke, aka Beto, are making it all about the AR-15.
O'Rourke emphatically stated, “Hell yes, we are going to take your AR-15, your AK-47," when asked if he would confiscate this style of weapon.
Very few Democrats like to talk about the “gun violence” occurring in cities like Chicago or New Orleans, shooting crimes that are being committed by criminals, who for the most part, have obtained those guns illegally.
But regardless of what weapon is used to daily shoot, maim, and kill individuals, somehow the Trump administration is to blame, and are ridiculed for not doing enough to stem “gun violence.”
This was the case during the third Democratic presidential debate in Houston, Texas.
Trump’s team "shot back," outlining the key accomplishments the president has made on “gun violence” since taking office in 2017.
- President Trumpsigned into law the Fix NICS Act last year, strengthening the existing federal firearms background check system.
- President Trump also signed into law the STOP School Violence Act, which helps schools and law enforcement “identify and prevent violence in schools” with more than $1 billion in annual grants.
- The Trump administration took action to ban bump stocks, the device used in the 2017 Las Vegas attack.
- Last year, the Justice Department prosecuted a record numberof firearms offenses.
- After last year’s Parkland shooting, President Trump established the Federal Commission on School Safety, which developed new recommendations to prevent school violence.
Trump has recently come out in favor of “Red Flag” gun laws like the one Senator Marco Rubio (R) proposed to defend against senseless shootings committed by mentally unstable individuals, and terrorists.
“We must make sure that those judged to pose a grave risk to public safety do not have access to firearms and that if they do those firearms can be taken through rapid due process,” Trump said. “That is why I have called for red flag laws, also known as extreme risk protection orders.”
But "Red Flag" laws aren't enough for those like O'Rourke that are pushing for gun confiscations and the banning of high capacity magazines.
While Florida Rep. Ted Deutch (D) is pushing his ban on high capacity magazines bill in the House, Deutch says he is open to negotiating a background check bill sent over to the Senate.
