Democrat presidential hopeful Kamala Harris is bemoaning what she sees as President Trump’s lack of courage to push failed gun control policies.
Harris has two specific policies in mind–universal background checks and an “assault weapons” ban–both of which have been on the books in California for decades and neither of which have prevented the numerous high profile shootings witnessed there.
She tweeted:
Whereas universal background checks have been a demonstrable failure in California, simple retail background checks have been a failure nationwide since 1998, at least as far as stopping mass shooters is concerned. Far from avoiding such checks in order to acquire guns, the vast majority of mass shooters during the past decade have simply avoided developing a criminal history, then walked into a gun store and passed a check for their firearm.
As for an “assault weapons” ban, mass shooters prefer handguns over AR-15s, AK-47s, and similar firearms by a margin of nearly three to one. And if we cast a more general look at murders in general, the Washington Post reported that 75 percent of all firearm murders since 1991 were committed with a handgun.
On February 19, 2018, Breitbart News reported the Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice report showing the 1994 federal “assault weapons” ban could not be credited with any reduction in crime.
But Harris believes it is a show of “courage” to push universal background checks and an “assault weapons” ban.
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.