On Thursday, CNN published a report suggesting the U.S. lacks New Zealand’s “urgency” in banning guns.
They teased the report with a tweet that highlighted the speed with which the New Zealand government banned an entire classification of firearms, parts, and accessories: “When a killer gunned down 50 people this month at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, it took lawmakers there 72 hours to ban assault rifles and high-capacity magazines.”
In the actual report, CNN noted that the U.S. sometimes responds to mass shootings without passing any gun control at all or at least not passing it until an extended period of time has passed.
For example, they cited the December 14, 2012, attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School and noticed that Congress refrained from adopting the universal background checks that were pushed by Barack Obama, the CDC, and various elected Democrats. CNN did not mention that universal background checks would not have prevented the Sandy Hook attack as the attacker stole his guns instead of buying them.
CNN provided three other examples of the U.S. response to mass shootings, all of which were longer than the “72 hours” they highlighted in New Zealand. They observed: “The right to own a gun isn’t enshrined in New Zealand’s constitution. And the aftermath of the Christchurch massacre shows there’s a greater sense of urgency to enact national gun-control legislation in New Zealand after a mass shooting than in the United States.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.