Washington Post: U.S. Gun Control ‘Feckless’ Compared to New Zealand

A Washington Post editorial juxtaposes the U.S. and New Zealand by claiming U.S. gun control is “feckless” compared to the gun bans New Zealand adopted last week.

The editorial, published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, notes New Zealand’s recently announced ban on “semiautomatic weapons, assault rifles and high-capacity magazines.” It holds this up as a high-water mark for gun control, then bemoans the fact that a “modest” push for gun control–i.e., universal background checks–appears doomed in the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate.

The Washington Post does not mention that California has had universal background checks for approximately two decades, and the checks have done nothing to stop determined attackers. Moreover, it does not mention that Illinois has universal background checks, yet Chicago’s South Side is a killing field.

Additionally, the Washington Post does not elaborate on the difference between a right and privilege. In the U.S., private gun ownership is a right protected by the Second Amendment, while New Zealand gun owners are merely exercising a privilege their government allows them.

The University of Sydney’s GunPolicy.org states, “In New Zealand, the right to private gun ownership is not guaranteed by law.” That is a world apart from “the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

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.