In an age of highly divisive politics, responsible gun owners are often the target of political attacks. Is it fair? No. But not a day goes by without some of the most law-abiding citizens being painted as “the problem.”
That’s what makes the November Democratic presidential debate so strange.
Ten Democratic candidates debated each other for more than two hours.
But no one discussed guns or gun control.
Why? It’s a mystery. But here are our top three reasons we think they skipped guns in the November debate and why that’s a good thing.
1) Reality Check: Their Gun Control Proposals Won’t Work
Democratic candidates have proposed everything from mandatory gun confiscations to universal background checks just to purchase ammunition. We actually went through and debunked the top nine gun control proposals floating around Washington before the debate.
But no matter what legislation they want passed, it takes honest citizens to follow those laws. Criminals, by definition, choose to ignore them.
Fortunately, responsible gun owners have consistently proven that they are among the most law-abiding members of our society. Unfortunately, these proposals would only work to disarm and weaken these protective members of our communities.
The Democratic candidates saw these proposals fail to make people safer in the recent Santa Clarita mass shooting in California. Despite most of these laws already existing in the state, they did nothing to prevent the attack.
Even a recent CNN fact check¹ found there’s no indication these laws would have stopped other recent attacks.
2) The Numbers: Facts Show That Guns Are NOT the Real Issue
Despite all the hype about “assault weapons” and “gun violence” in our communities, the facts don’t support the idea that guns are the problem.
Mass shootings are rare. “Assault weapons” are not commonly used in crime. And violent crime is actually down.
But more to the point, as gun ownership has increased, crimes committed with guns have actually declined. In fact, crime has decreased as a whole, while the number of concealed carry permits continues to skyrocket across the country.
We’ve broken it all down in our Fact or Fiction resources based on studies done by unbiased organizations.
3) Armed Citizens: They Don’t Like the Solution That’s Actually Working
This one is at the very heart of what the USCCA is all about — empowering and defending responsible protectors to defend the people they love.
We’re doing it right now for more than 420,000 USCCA Members. They all made the choice to become their families’ first lines of defense. What they need is support, not more restrictive laws that don’t work.
Sadly, the media and certain politicians have shown little interest in talking about how law-abiding, armed Americans are actually making communities safer.
Where gun-control laws have failed, individual citizens with a dedication to protect have succeeded. The sad fact is that there’s less crime but more media hype.
We’d love to see a civil discussion about these responsible protectors and how to help them make communities safer. But it needs to be rooted in the basic facts about gun owners that are still being ignored.
In the meantime, we’ll continue to provide each and every USCCA Member with the education and training they need to be the strong protectors their families deserve.
