Liberals have predictably seized upon the recent Uvalde, Texas, shooting rampage by an 18-year-old loner to call for more gun control. Also, predictably, gun sales will go up.
Each side said the other is politicizing this shooting. The left and their social justice warriors are mad because Republicans are standing firm on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.
We all need to go slowly, get the facts straight and not make rash decisions that give the politicians/government more power - which we will later regret. We make the worst decisions when emotions are heightened, and Americans are worked up. We invaded Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11. Also, we got the Patriot Act, the TSA and the sprawling Department of Homeland Security. All over anger about 9/11. Now we live with these unneeded agencies. Never underestimate political "mission creep" when there are so many creeps in government. Freedoms ceded to government are never regained.
There are a lot of factors that went into the Uvalde mass shooting. The media makes a shooter's name known to the world and encourages future shootings. I believe the entertainment business, which makes violent video games and movies (think Quentin Tarantino), plays a big role in mass shootings because they desensitize young males to violence.
That pandering idiot Justin Trudeau, who inherited the Canadian prime ministering business from his dad, Pierre, has introduced legislation banning handgun sales in Canada. Government officials think only they should be protected by guns.
Joe Biden says we have too many guns in America. Most are starting to believe that we have too many Bidens in America.
There are two more hypocrisies here: First, Democrats, Hollywood, government officials, limousine liberals and the mainstream media are all protected by gun-toting security. They are safe precisely because their guards have guns, which ghettos, farms and trailer parks do not. More and more, the left is tone-deaf to the needs of the average American. They want to defund the police, then take guns away from us so we cannot defend ourselves when government cannot. It is important.
A gun-toting grandmother in West Virginia saved many lives last month after she shot a man who opened fire at a crowd at a birthday party. Only a few major news outlets covered it. Nor was there much on the heroic off-duty U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent who helped mitigate the Uvalde shooting when he borrowed his barber's gun.
I am not sure why we think one more gun law, layered upon myriad past gun laws, will make a difference. Look at all the Black-on-Black murders in Chicago, the city with one of the most strict gun laws in America. Laws do not work with the lawless.
The media and public health leftists call the mass murders and killings an "epidemic." The reality is that, as gun ownership has grown rapidly since 1991, the murder rate has been cut by more than half. The only thing that has increased is suicide rates.
History shows us when any government tells its citizens they do not need guns, that's when people need them most. No doubt many of us gun advocates could get behind raising the age to 21 to buy an AR-15-style rifle. Sadly, with each side blaming each other, common sense compromises can't be had.
The hyenas on the left who know the least about guns are the ones most vocal about what should be done. Biden got confused again and said we should ban 9 mm pistols. Then the White House, again, walked back his gaffe.
Contact Ron Hart, a syndicated op-ed satirist, author and TV/radio commentator, at Ron@RonaldHart.com or Twitter @RonaldHart.