Jeh Johnson: Gun Control Part of Homeland Security Post-Orlando

On June 14 Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said gun control will part of Homeland Security going forward.

He pointed to the Orlando attack carried out by a man who passed a background check, cooperated with the Florida waiting period on handguns, and possessed a Security Officer license and a Statewide Firearms License as justification for putting even more gun control in place.

According to Politico, Johnson was interviewed on CBS This Morning and he said, “I am not anxious to plunge into yet another difficult, contentious issue like the ones I already have. I do believe, however, that meaningful, responsible gun control is now part and parcel of homeland security.”

He continued:

[Gun control is] critical to public safety, we have to face the fact that meaningful, responsible gun control has to be part of homeland security as well, given the prospect of homegrown, home-born violent extremism in this country. We’ve seen this now with Orlando, tragically, with San Bernardino. It’s something that I think the American public and the Congress has to face and has to address.

Johnson then rephrased a bit and added, “I believe that meaningful, responsible gun control is part of homeland security. It is something we have to address.”

He emphasized “homegrown, home-born violent extremism” as justification for taking up gun control. And he used the generic term “terrorists” and mentioned the “real role that organizations like ISIL have in generating extremist views inside this country.” But the focus was not on Islam, Islamism, or radical Islamic terror.

Simply referring to the Orlando attacker or the San Bernardino attackers as “terrorists” or extremists misses the point. And it allows bureaucrats like Johnson to treat firearm-based radical Islamist terror attacks as an example of American extremism, which is something they will deal with by limiting the guns law-abiding Americans are allowed to buy.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.