Whatever the political pundits would have been talking about in the coming week has been overshadowed by the El Paso mass shooting. Mere hours after this tragedy, at least nine people were killed in a shooting in Dayton, OH. The left, as usual, will capitalize on these incidents to push its anti-gun agenda.
The largest social problems are never solved by reactive measures. The utter failure of the so-called war on drugs has proven this beyond any doubt. How long has it been since heroin could legally be used in the United States? As reported by the CDC, though, heroin killed more than 150,000 Americans in 2017. The use of firearms killed less than 40,000 people in that same year, also according to CDC figures.
Big Story of the Week: Guns
If banning a particular item or a specific activity actually worked, then the world’s homicide rate would be zero – wars notwithstanding – and all other crimes would have been eradicated, too. If restricting guns were the answer, then Baltimore would be the safest city in the country instead of the most dangerous.
Here’s a novel idea: Perhaps more law-abiding, well-trained Americans should carry their own guns when they go to Walmart, in the future.
The Democratic Party’s presidential hopefuls will be tripping over each other to come up with the most draconian reactions to the El Paso shooting. For a week, at least, the impending annihilation of the human species due to climate change will be forgotten in the race to become the candidate who will most quickly and effectively nullify the Second Amendment.
Biden Still Crushing it, Polls Suggest
Speaking of Democrats, several leading contenders for the party’s presidential nomination must be shaking their heads in dismay: Frontrunner Joe Biden took a beating at the most recent debate, but he is still crushing his opponents in the polls.
RealClearPolitics on August 2 published two polls of potential Democratic primary voters.
A Politico/Morning Consult poll had the former VP at 32% with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in second place at 18%. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) sits at 15% and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) at 10%. The rest of the field, led by South Bend, IN, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, is in single digits.
The Harvard/Harris poll puts Biden at 34% and Sanders at 17%. No other candidates reached double digits: Harris had 9% and Warren 8%. In this poll, Hawai’i Representative Tulsi Gabbard and former Maryland Congressman John Delaney – arguably the only two people in the race who come anywhere close to rational – are both at 0%. So far, there have been two withdrawals from the primary contest. Perhaps this coming week will see at least one more.
It’s Going to Get Ugly
The El Paso shooter may have had a racial or anti-immigrant motive – although that has not been proven – and so a lot of the media focus, over the next week or two, will be on the scourge of white supremacism.
With help from its media minions, the left has spent the past two years continuously berating white males over their supposed privilege, their ingrained racism, and their dangerous and predatory nature. What are the chances that, if one specific demographic is constantly singled out as being inherently despicable and responsible for all of society’s problems, a few individuals from that group – the mentally fragile or the sufferers of personality disorders – are going to snap and, according to his own twisted perception, seek revenge?
While the important issues remain unresolved, America is in for at least a week of ugly rhetoric and recriminations. Since gun control has never been a winning issue for Democrats in national elections, it will be interesting to see if any of the presidential candidates or congressional leaders make any attempt to steer the conversation in other directions.
As much as they do want to take away everyone’s guns, Democrats do not enjoy being dragged into substantive debates about it. They prefer to just express their outrage over gun violence and move on – letting their plans for firearm confiscation go mostly unnoticed. Some of the 2020 candidates may be hoping that a bigger story captures the news in the coming days so that they can do just that.
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Read more from Graham J. Noble or comment on this article at Liberty Nation.com.
