Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN News

Revolving Door Of Wrong Solutions

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Revolving Door Of Wrong Solutions

I ran across a letter to the editor in the Los Angeles Times this past weekend that’s worth sharing. Responding to a column by Jonah Goldberg, the writer proclaimed that gun control advocates don’t mock people who offer up prayers after a horrific event like the church shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas. (Spoiler alert: Yes, they do). Instead, the writer believes that people like her only “mock those who do nothing to stop the gun violence in our country. We in the gun control advocacy groups ask for gun safety laws, enforcing existing laws, outlawing weapons of war and requiring everyone who buys a gun to pass a background check and have their firearm registered.”

I have no doubt the writer of this letter wants to see the United States become a safer, less violent country. But I doubt she’d believe me if I could tell her that gun owners and NRA members want the same thing that she does—less violent crime. Greater enforcement of existing laws, for example, should be something that Second Amendment advocates and anti-gun activists can both get behind, but most of the gun control activists I hear seem a lot more interested in putting some new gun control laws on the books than making sure violent criminals are held accountable for their actions.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis recently proclaimed that the city’s juvenile justice system is “broken,” telling members of the press that far too often officers are arresting the same violent juveniles over and over again, including four teenagers now charged in an attack on Halloween night. Baltimore has plenty of gun control laws on the books, including an “assault weapons" ban and “universal" background checks. The city may also end up with a record-high number of homicides in 2017. Yet politicians like Maryland’s attorney general are publicly pushing for more gun control laws while staying silent on the failures of the state-run juvenile justice system in rehabilitating young offenders. Calling for gun control is an easy way for lawmakers to “do something.” But we the people want our lawmakers to do something that actually works.

Gun registries, semi-auto bans, and so-called “universal” background checks aren’t inherently anti-crime, but they are inherently anti-gun. These are laws that are intentionally aimed at legal gun owners in the hopes that there will be some sort of trickle-down effect on violent criminals and their ability to illegally gain access to a firearm (other examples include “one-gun-a-month” laws, laws mandating locked storage of firearms and so-called “smart gun” laws). Yet criminals get their firearms primarily from individuals within their social network. These types of supply-side gun control laws don’t have much of an impact on reducing access to firearms. But what if we did something about the demand for illicit firearms instead?

I’ve written here before about the tactics used to successfully drive down gang-related violence in cities across the country by reducing the demand for firearms among gang members. Offering an individual a way out of his gang while also pursuing full enforcement of the laws against gang members who choose to keep offending seems to work wonders, yet I never hear lawmakers talk about promoting this strategy. Maybe it’s because this can be done without new legislation, which makes it difficult for lawmakers to take credit for “doing something.”

There are plenty of pundits who also seem more enamored with the idea of doing something big than doing something that works. The Boston Globe recently devoted space to the argument that “if gun-control advocates really want to stanch the blood, there’s no way around it: They’ll have to persuade more people of the need to confiscate millions of those firearms, as radical as that idea may now seem.”

Oh, that idea seems radical, alright. It’s downright tyrannical, as a matter of fact. Unfortunately, the author of that piece, David Scharfenberg, ran out of space before he could elaborate on how exactly that confiscation would take place. He references Australia’s compensated gun confiscation, but acknowledges that “America is not Australia” and seems to recognize that ultimately, what happened in Australia is unlikely to happen here. He fails to report that Australia’s gun control advocates are still pushing for more gun laws, even after their sweeping gun ban. In fact, their latest idea is to limit the number of firearms that a person can own.

So if Australia isn’t the right model after all, what is? Ultimately, Scharfenberg doesn’t say. Maybe he didn’t want to delve into the specifics. After all, it’s tough to lay out a plan to criminalize a constitutional right and then confiscate tens of millions of firearms from people who legally owned them without coming off as an authoritarian nutjob. Or maybe he doesn’t have an actual plan, just a desire for our country to “do something”—even if the results would be disastrous to the nation and to individual liberty

BY Cam Edwards

Host, NRATV’s "Cam & Co."

Cam Edwards is the host of “Cam & Co.,” which airs live 2-5 p.m. EST on NRATV and midnight EST on SiriusXM Patriot 125. He lives with his family on a small farm near Farmville, Va. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @camedwards.

TRENDING NOW
California: Governor Newsom Signs Gun Control Bills Into Law

Monday, October 13, 2025

California: Governor Newsom Signs Gun Control Bills Into Law

For someone who has claimed to be"...deeply mindful and respectful of the Second Amendment and people’s Constitutional rights,” Governor Gavin Newsom has once again proven that actions speak louder than words.

Firearm Prohibition Advocates Mute on Jay Jones “Two Bullets to the Head” Scandal

News  

Monday, October 13, 2025

Firearm Prohibition Advocates Mute on Jay Jones “Two Bullets to the Head” Scandal

Democrat Jay Jones, candidate for Virginia attorney general, still has not suspended his campaign, even as pressure mounts over disclosures that should disqualify, to put it mildly, any individual from serving as the chief law ...

First Affirmative Lawsuit in Support of Gun Owners Filed by Trump’s DOJ

News  

Monday, October 6, 2025

First Affirmative Lawsuit in Support of Gun Owners Filed by Trump’s DOJ

California officials’ egregious foot-dragging over the issuance of carry permits has finally attracted the ire of the federal Department of Justice (DOJ). 

FBI Persists in Underreporting Armed Citizen Defensive Gun Use

News  

Monday, October 13, 2025

FBI Persists in Underreporting Armed Citizen Defensive Gun Use

Three years ago, Dr. John Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), writing for RealClearInvestigations, described how the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was vastly undercounting, “by an order of more than three the number of instances in ...

NRA Files Another Lawsuit Challenging the National Firearms Act

Thursday, October 9, 2025

NRA Files Another Lawsuit Challenging the National Firearms Act

Today, the National Rifle Association—along with the American Suppressor Association, Firearms Policy Coalition, and Second Amendment Foundation—announced the filing of another lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA).

NRA Files Lawsuit Challenging California’s Glock Ban

Monday, October 13, 2025

NRA Files Lawsuit Challenging California’s Glock Ban

Today, the National Rifle Association—along with Firearms Policy Coalition, Second Amendment Foundation, Poway Weapons & Gear, and two NRA members—filed a lawsuit challenging California’s Glock ban.

Rehearing En Banc Sought in NRA-Supported Challenge to New Jersey’s Carry Restrictions

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Rehearing En Banc Sought in NRA-Supported Challenge to New Jersey’s Carry Restrictions

Today, the National Rifle Association announced the filing of a petition for rehearing en banc in Siegel v. Platkin, a challenge to New Jersey’s carry restrictions.

US Virgin Islands: Sweeping Gun Control Measures Advance

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

US Virgin Islands: Sweeping Gun Control Measures Advance

The 36th Legislature of the US Virgin Islands is continuing to advance sweeping gun control measures through the legislative process.

NRA Files Amicus Brief Urging SCOTUS to Hear Challenge to Ban on Firearms Possession by Nonviolent Felons

Thursday, October 9, 2025

NRA Files Amicus Brief Urging SCOTUS to Hear Challenge to Ban on Firearms Possession by Nonviolent Felons

Today, the National Rifle Association, along with the Second Amendment Foundation, Firearms Policy Coalition, and FPC Action Foundation, filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a challenge to the federal lifetime prohibition on ...

North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Last week the North Carolina General Assembly briefly returned from recess and re-referred Senate Bill 50, Freedom to Carry NC, to the House Rules Committee.

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.