When innocent lives are taken in school shootings or other mass tragedies, we should come together, as a nation, mourn with the families and friends who lost their loved ones, and in time discuss how this could have been prevented.
Instead, the radical gun-grabbing Left is at it again, blaming law-abiding citizens for the actions of a deranged criminal. Within hours of the Santa Fe, Texas, school shooting, gun-grabbing extremists like David Hogg, Cameron Kasky, and others across the nation called for stricter gun control laws. Unsurprisingly, Hogg, Kasky, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and other firearm-haters immediately diverted attention from the shooter and focused their attacks on the National Rifle Association.
What they fail to realize is that focusing blame on the NRA, or blaming law-abiding citizens, will get our nation nowhere in developing a realistic solution to stop criminals and their desire to inflict harm on others.
In order to propose a viable solution, one must know the facts of the situation. Examining the facts of this horrific incident allows us to propose realistic solutions to avoid repeats.
Firstly, the weapons used in the Santa Fe High School shooting were a sawed-off shotgun and a .38 caliber handgun. Sawed off shotguns are illegal under federal law without a special license from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Investigators have identified the original buyers, however how it moved from them to the shooter has yet to be determined.
In regards to the .38 caliber handgun, under federal law one must be 21 years old to own or purchase a handgun in the U.S. ( some exceptions exist for those 18 to 21). The madman, who killed 10 at the Santa Fe High School, is only 17. No current law, or other law, would have prevented him from illegally obtaining those firearms.
The most common knee-jerk reaction from proponents of gun control is to call for immediate stricter gun control laws and blame the NRA. But stricter gun control will only hurt law-abiding citizens because criminals don’t follow the law.
Gun control legislation is currently on the rise across the country with numerous states raising the age to purchase a firearm to 21. By implementing such radical gun control legislation, millions of Americans aged 18 to 20 are stripped of their constitutional rights and the ability to effectively defend themselves.
Other absurd gun control legislation currently under consideration in Congress include H.R. 4268, which would implement a seven-day waiting period after purchasing a firearm, H.R. 1612, which closes the so-called “gun show loophole”, and H.R. 163, which would hold gun manufacturers accountable for crimes committed with their firearms.
These bills come from far-left leaning Democrats, of course, who only care about control and saving face among their voters. They don’t care about the rights of law-abiding Americans or the Constitution. If they did, they would not be attempting to pass such radical gun-control legislation.
It gets worse on the state level.
For example, the New York State Senate passed a bill recently allowing police and prosecutors to confiscate weapons from people deemed a danger to themselves. Florida passed a similar law after the Parkland school massacre. These types of laws completely bypass due process, violating an individual's Second and Fourth Amendment rights. Of course, this can be contested in court, but the question remains, how long does it take to contest this obstruction of justice in court?
The overall problem with more gun control legislation passing is that once the floodgates are opened, who or what is to stop unconstitutional legislation from becoming law? For decades now, the far-left has stated they’re “not coming for our guns.” The legislation they’ve been proposing demonstrates otherwise.
Written by Tyler Yzaguirre, SAI President. Originally published in Washington Examiner.