There’s been a major push in the Democratic party as of late to push gun control. In the wake of several mass shootings this year alone, the calls for tougher gun laws are louder than ever. More moderate Democrats are simply asking for tougher background checks and Red Flag Laws designed to allow gun privileges to be taken away from people deemed harmful to society.
Even these more slight-of-left views are being completely rejected by the right who will stand by their belief that the Second Amendment must not be infringed. The NRA is a weaker beast than it used to be, but they still have a powerful crowd of pro-gun and pro-liberty fans and politicians on their side.
For a long time, the right has known that the left has never understood nor accepted
the right’s love of guns. Yes, many on the left are gunowners themselves. They
are hunters and protectors of their own homes, just like those on the right
side of the spectrum. The difference is, they are less resilient towards tougher
gun laws and many calls for these laws to be implemented.
Still, the right and their allies won’t budge or compromise when it comes to the Second Amendment. They’ve had a deep fear that the left only cares about taking away all guns, but they can’t ever admit that. They will start off slow and with each new law, and shootings still continue to happen, requiring increasing amounts of control on guns until they’re gun. A conspiracy theory? Perhaps, but one rooted in at least a little bit of truth.
Beto Wants Your Guns
As the left and right continue to debate over gun rights, the left has always said the right was too paranoid. “We don’t want to take your guns!” they’ve shouted. “We just want common-sense gun reform.” Well, the cat is now out of the bag. A certain presidential candidate from Texas is now saying he wants your guns.
It’s not uncommon for candidates to make outlandish promises while out on the field before election day, especially in areas that are heavily right or left. You need to make those extreme promises to stand out, but then get on the debate stage amongst other candidates and play nice. The goal is to stay as center as possible to capture the lightning in the bottle.
This time around, that wasn’t the case. In a rousing speech, Beto O’Rourke said the words that rang across the country: “Hell yes, we’re gonna take your AR-15, your AK-47.” This stoked more fears among the left. What they had always suspected would happen is coming true. They are now open about wanting to take your guns.
“In some regards, this horse is out of the barn,” said David Chipman, a retired agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and now the senior policy adviser for the Giffords group. “For years we’ve allowed these to be sold.” The question now is whether that’s actually a feasible plan.
Would a Gun Buyback Work?
There are currently more guns in the United States than people. Estimates are there are 400 million guns out there today and trillions of rounds of ammo. Even if you remain focused on just confiscating AR-15s and AK-47s, those numbers can top as many as 16 million weapons. Beto seemed adamant that the first thing he would do as president is take those types of guns.
How exactly would that take place? More importantly, how would he enforce that federally? States may not go along with the law, especially the deep red states that would probably rather succeed, like Texas, than go along. Again, another conspiracy theory, but Texas seemed ready when Obama was elected.
If the logistics of enforcing the law were enough, the cost is another major issue. The price tag of hiring federal law enforcement agents to hit every home to force them to comply as well as the full cost of the buyback and disposal would easily hit in the billions. Yet, Beto believes most gun owners are law abiding citizens who would willingly give up their weapons.
“Once you start talking about taking guns away, especially legally owned firearms by responsible gun owners, you’re just going to alienate a whole huge portion of American citizens. They’re just not going to stand for that,” said Chris Waltz, the president and CEO of AR-15 Gun Owners of America. “This is what they feared.”
The Logical Conclusion
The logical conclusion is that this probably won’t happen. The Republicans still control the Senate. Even if the law was signed after Democrats take all three branches of government, lawsuits would then ensue. The battle would make it all the way to the Supreme Court, where it would ultimately be shot down.
That doesn’t mean we won’t see some isolated approvals in blue states for red flag laws and comprehensive background checks. Many states have already implemented these laws with no real effects in curbing gun violence. That’s because the United States has open borders between states and anyone can bring weapons into California or New York. So, would a federal ban help?
“Constitutional rights aren’t based on what you like. What’s the slippery slope of this?” said Lara C. Smith, the national spokeswoman for the Liberal Gun Club, a nonprofit group of liberal gun owners. “If they’re going to take away these rights, what other rights are they going to take away?” Even liberals close to the middle think this is unfair and unconstitutional. Where it goes, no one knows just yet, but Beto is currently polling near the bottom of the pack.
