Weekly Spotlight 3/29/24 – 4/4/24
Vice President Harris Continues Her Streak of Ill-Informed Views on Gun Laws
Vice President Kamala Harris, who has never been an ally of Second Amendment rights, continued her streak of pushing views on gun law proposals that show how ill-informed she is about public safety, law enforcement and constitutional rights. In a recent social media post, VP Harris used the 2017 tragedy in Parkland, FL, to push her position in favor of ineffective and misguided gun control policies. She stated that universal background checks, red flag laws, and bans on so-called “assault weapons” are policies that “work,” but unsurprisingly did not proceed to explain how they work.
In reality, none of the extreme gun control proposals listed by Vice President Harris would have prevented the tragic events that unfolded at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2017. Instead, each of these policies would simply restrict the rights of law-abiding citizens and make it tougher for them to arm themselves while crazed killers with no regard for the law will continue to find a way to arm themselves and hurt innocent people.
As pro-2A radio commentator Dana Loesch pointed out, the local authorities in Parkland failed to enforce existing laws that could have prevented this from taking place, and the school took zero measures to ensure the police kept a close eye on the now convicted killer. Unfortunately, VP Harris is only interested in empty rhetoric rather than real solutions that would strengthen school security while protecting the rights of law-abiding gun owners to defend themselves.
The Vice President’s ignorance of reality, taken alongside President Biden’s calls for extreme gun control measures during his State of the Union address, continue to show that they are unserious about actually curbing violent crime and merely want to restrict the Second Amendment. This underscores the need for law-abiding and responsible gun owners to use their voices and make sure their elected officials represent their best interests, remain solutions-oriented and do not compromise on core constitutional rights.
Join us in advocating for sensible legislative solutions that will help save lives!
OTHER NEWS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED
- Washington Examiner: Congress Rings Alarm Bells About Gun Control Over DOJ’s ‘National Extreme Risk’ Center
The Department of Justice instituted its own training center Saturday to help local law enforcement implement gun control practices. Known as the National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center, this latest office will put the DOJ’s $2 million allotment to use under its Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program. The ERPO center was established with the help of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. A simplified website guides prosecutors, attorneys, judges, clinicians, victim service providers, social service providers, and household members on how to file protection orders against gun owners they deem at risk.
In the latest of a series of challenges by Pima County politicians to Arizona’s relatively robust protections for self-defense rights, county supervisors earlier this month voted to penalize gun owners who don’t quickly report the loss or theft of a firearm to police. Each violation would draw a potential fine of $1,000, seemingly putting the county once again on a collision course with Arizona law, which bars localities from imposing firearms regulations more restrictive than those enacted by the state.
- NJ Spotlight News: Concealed handgun permits soared in NJ after Bruen ruling
Until the middle of 2022, it was highly unlikely that a New Jerseyan would encounter someone carrying a gun legally, outside of police officers. That is no longer the case, especially in some parts of the state. According to the state’s new Permit to Carry Data Dashboard, posted by the attorney general earlier this week, the number of concealed-carry gun permits issued by law enforcement rose by nearly 5,000% since June 2022. That’s when the U.S. Supreme Court decided the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen case, finding that the ability to carry a pistol in public is a constitutional right guaranteed by the Second Amendment.
Gun-control advocates in the Centennial State hit a new milestone this week by getting an “assault weapon” ban passed out of a House committee. Whether that momentum will translate into law, however, remains quite murky. On a 7-3 party-line vote, House Democrats advanced HB24-1292 out of the Judiciary Committee and onto the floor early Wednesday morning after a marathon hearing that lasted more than 14 hours and saw more than 600 people testify on the bill.
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