Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN Legal & Legislation

Clueless Anti-gun Democrats Dig Themselves an Ever Deeper Hole

Monday, May 19, 2025

Clueless Anti-gun Democrats Dig Themselves an Ever Deeper Hole

Anyone reading the firearm-related news these days is reminded that anti-gun Democrats appear oblivious to the blunt message sent by millions of American voters last fall. Despite Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris blowing through a mountain of money in campaigning her way to a stunning defeat, Democrats continue to push the same tired gun control agenda that got roundly shown the door in November. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), for instance, has lately introduced the so-called “Assault Weapons Ban of 2025,” while an Illinois Democrat has proposed a bill to ban semiautomatic “convertible pistols.”

The American public, meanwhile, still isn’t buying it.

Dr. John Lott, Jr., the president of the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), recently described the results of a poll that the CPRC commissioned last December on crime and gun control. The poll asked general election voters in America which of three approaches, in their opinion, was most likely to reduce crime: enacting more gun control; stricter enforcement of existing gun control laws; or having law enforcement arrest violent, repeat offenders and ending cashless bail reforms.

Less than one in five respondents felt the answer was more gun control. “Despite all the claims about support for gun control, only 19% of voters think passing more gun control will reduce crime, slightly more (21%) think stricter enforcement of existing gun control” is the solution. In contrast, more than half of respondents (54%) believed that the most effective approach was to crack down on criminal perpetrators by keeping violent offenders off the streets through arrest and detention.           

As Dr. Lott points out, unlike other polls and surveys this poll offered a response choice other than gun control and so is more likely to accurately reflect the public’s feelings. He cites a Rasmussen survey done with a similar set of voters at about the same time as the CPRC poll, but which framed the question in a more constricted way (“Which would do more to reduce gun violence in America, passing new gun control laws or stricter enforcement of existing gun control laws?”). There, also, “new gun control laws” was a less popular choice than greater enforcement of existing laws (31% vs. 56%), but without any third choice, “both percentages are much higher than when respondents have the option of arresting criminals and keeping them in jail.” (Unsurprisingly, the “new gun control laws” option in that survey was most popular among Democrats, supported by 49%; in contrast, only 18% of Republicans felt it was the better approach.)     

A research brief published this month by the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, More Policing, Less Murder, appears to bear out the wisdom of ramped-up law enforcement. The brief, which analyzes homicide trends during the 2020-2022 de-policing era and the subsequent “re-policing” years, found that increased policing (arrests and stops) was linked to lower homicide rates: the “sharper the increase in police activity the greater the fall in homicides across the 15 cities.” The only city in the group that failed to show a drop in homicides was also the single jurisdiction that had no increase in police enforcement. In Democrat-run Seattle, “police make 60% fewer stops than they did in 2019 while the murder rate is 50% higher. The city’s experience provides a useful, if tragic, counterfactual that proves the impact of re-policing on murders.”

All indications are that the new Trump administration is better attuned to the public zeitgeist.

For starters, it seems to have rejected the performative, kneejerk “more gun control” response that was a hallmark of the Biden presidency. When asked about a tragic shooting at Florida State University last month and whether there was anything he saw wrong with gun laws in the wake of the shooting, President Trump called such events “terrible,” and told reporters, “But the gun doesn’t do the shooting, the people do.”

Following President Trump’s February 7th Executive Order entitled “Protecting Second Amendment Rights,” the U.S. Department of Justice announced the creation of a Second Amendment Task Force to overturn the anti-gun initiatives of the prior administration, which “placed an undue burden on gun owners and vendors by targeting law-abiding citizens exercising their 2nd Amendment rights.” We’ve seen the official end of Biden’s “zero tolerance” policy for inspections of federal firearm licensees, which, as we noted, had ushered in a “bureaucratic reign of terror that was costing small business people their livelihoods over harmless clerical errors.”

The Trump White House has also ordered the removal of former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s anti-gun tract, Firearm Violence: A Public Health Crisis in America, from the official Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) website, and reframed the issue as what it actually is, one of criminal law and law enforcement rather than epidemics and disease control. In the words of NRA-ILA’s John Commerford, “With a pro-gun House, a pro-gun Senate, and a pro-gun president in the White House, now is the time to put the foot on the gas and try to restore Second Amendment rights of America’s gun owners.”

Meanwhile, Democrats oppose these measures and continue to demand new gun control laws for responsible gun owners, all while rushing to defend murderers, gang members, drug traffickers, and other violent criminals (e.g., here, here, here and here). “We’re seeing Democrat senators, Democrat house members flying down to El Salvador and putting all their political capital behind the position that we need more illegal immigrants in America, we need more criminals in America, and we need more MS-13 gang members in America… It is a very bizarre political decision that the Democrats have made,” notes Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.). 

None of this is terribly complicated. Voters, even in ultra-blue California, rejected progressive, soft-on-crime policies and demanded that politicians get serious about crime and public safety. By continuing to throw their support behind gangsters, murderers and other criminals, observes one commentator, the Democrats are simply “digging a deeper and deeper political grave for themselves. And Mr. Trump is selling them the shovel.”

TRENDING NOW
Report: Newsom Rejected Gifted Handgun Because California Law is Too Complicated

News  

Monday, July 28, 2025

Report: Newsom Rejected Gifted Handgun Because California Law is Too Complicated

In a video interview with Tennessee-based podcaster Shawn Ryan published earlier this month, anti-gun California Governor Gavin Newsom appeared to accept a gift of a Sig P365 XMACRO semi-automatic handgun from the former U.S. Navy ...

Sen. Murphy and Political Performance Art

News  

Monday, July 28, 2025

Sen. Murphy and Political Performance Art

Readers of our alerts know, very well, that U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) does not believe in the Second Amendment, and would probably like to see virtually every law-abiding American disarmed. And he has held ...

North Carolina: Pro-Gun Bills Advance in Veto Override Session

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

North Carolina: Pro-Gun Bills Advance in Veto Override Session

During a veto override session on Tuesday, July 29th, both chambers passed House Bill 193 (H193) and defeated Governor Josh Stein's veto.

From New York to Australia, the Law Doesn’t Always Back the Good Guys

News  

Monday, July 28, 2025

From New York to Australia, the Law Doesn’t Always Back the Good Guys

For decades, NRA-ILA has pointed out that gun control advocates are disingenuous when it comes to public safety. 

Ninth Circuit Strikes Down California’s Background Check Requirement for Ammunition Purchases in NRA Backed Case

Thursday, July 24, 2025

Ninth Circuit Strikes Down California’s Background Check Requirement for Ammunition Purchases in NRA Backed Case

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that California’s law requiring a background check for each ammunition purchase violates the Second Amendment in Rhode v. Bonta—a case backed by the National Rifle Association and California Rifle ...

Rehabilitative Justice and the Anti-Gun Blind Spot

News  

Monday, July 28, 2025

Rehabilitative Justice and the Anti-Gun Blind Spot

Politics, they say, make for some strange bedfellows. Nicole Aloise, the Democrat running for the District Attorney (DA) job in New York’s Nassau County, has reportedly invited convicted criminals to apply for a full-time position on her ...

DOJ Issues “Relief From Disabilities” Rulemaking; Your Comments Urgently Needed!

News  

Monday, July 28, 2025

DOJ Issues “Relief From Disabilities” Rulemaking; Your Comments Urgently Needed!

On July 22, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a proposed rule in response to the Trump administration’s intention to revive a statutory process for the restoration of Second Amendment rights lost under federal law as result of ...

Tax Relief Spurs Participation in Outdoor Recreation, Conservation Efforts

News  

Monday, July 28, 2025

Tax Relief Spurs Participation in Outdoor Recreation, Conservation Efforts

It’s well known that firearm owners, along with sportsmen and women, invest a lot of time, effort, and especially money into being good stewards of their Second Amendment rights and their love of the outdoors.

Florida: Second Amendment Sales Tax Holiday Signed by Governor

Monday, July 7, 2025

Florida: Second Amendment Sales Tax Holiday Signed by Governor

Governor Ron DeSantis recently signed the Florida Budget for Fiscal Year 2025–2026, which includes a Second Amendment sales tax holiday from September 8 through December 31, 2025. The NRA is thankful for Governor DeSantis’ strong ...

North Carolina: Update on Gun Bills Moving through the General Assembly

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

North Carolina: Update on Gun Bills Moving through the General Assembly

Recently, House Bill 193 (H193) was reported favorably out of both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Rules Committee, with amendments.

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.