While the two major parties bicker about gun control and Second Amendment rights, the political outsider elected to the White House stands alone.
President Donald J. Trump recognizes that everyday Americans have a self-defense right to protect themselves and that Democrats are long-time advocates of taking away guns from law-abiding citizens.
On the other side of the aisle, Republicans seek to end gun violence in a different way and block Democrats from disarming the law abiding citizenry.
But the increase in mass shootings and rampages such as last weekend’s tragedy in Odessa, Texas that killed at seven people and wounded nearly two dozen proves that current gun laws are working. If that seems counterintuitive, consider that Texas background checks denied the gunman the lawful purchase of firearms. In fact, even the weakest background checks and regulations in the nation would have denied him lawful possession of a firearm.
“Not only did the gunman have a criminal history … he also previously failed a gun purchase background check in Texas,” Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott tweeted. “& he didn’t go thru a background check for the gun he used in Odessa. We must keep guns out of criminals’ hands.”
It’s not clear how the 36-year-old rampage shooter got his hands on the weapons, but it was not through a legal process. What is abundantly clear is that his mental capacity had diminished and being fired from a trucking job earlier in the day sparked his murderous rage.
This is where President Trump stands alone on deterring gun violence. The White House has repeatedly called for improved mental health treatment, care, and red flag laws that secure firearms when imminent danger presents itself.
“These people are mentally ill, and nobody talks about that,” President Trump said. “We have to start building institutions again because, you know, if you look at the ’60s and ’70s, so many of these institutions were closed, and the people were just allowed to go onto the streets. That was a terrible thing for our country.”
Republicans are concerned that so-called “Red Flag” laws will be weaponized by politicians and individuals to strip law abiding gun owners of their constitutional rights. There’s nothing to stop an angry ex-girlfriends from making a false claim or for a fight with a neighbor to spark a fake red flag call.
Democrats have a long-standing opposition of any gun ownership. In the past they have been much more secretive about their true intentions. That is until this latest crop of Democrats fighting for the presidential nomination all simultaneously admitted they will ban certain weapons and even confiscation others—no matter if the owner has ever committed a crime or not.
The Democrat Party’s shift on Second Amendment rights are proving that the rule of law only means getting what they want. Whether that means appointing political activists to judgeships to get favorable rulings in the courts or weaponizing seemingly reasonable gun control laws, those fears are valid.
In Oregon, a former U.S. Marine and conservative was recently targeted under a red flag law. After stating that he would, hypothetically, retaliate against the liberal street gang known as Antifa if they started killing people, the ex-Marine was stripped of his weapons without due process.
Although the fake news media continues to vilify the patriot, the reality is that Antifa thugs that have committed felonies in plain sight have not been arrested. It’s clear that left-wing zealots have used a law meant to deter imminent danger against an honorable soldier who did not say he “would” act if necessary.
Not only did the left violate the man’s Second Amendment rights, they also wrongfully used the law to violate his First Amendment rights as well. Lawmakers in Republican-majority states struggling with Democrats’ upending any type of meaningful gun control measures are forced to encourage law-abiding citizens to arm themselves.
“We have learned many times over that there is no such thing as a gun-free zone. Those with evil intentions will violate the law and carry out their heinous acts no matter what,” Texas State Sen. Donna Campbell stated. “It makes no sense to disarm the good guys and leave law-abiding citizens defenseless where violent offenders break the law to do great harm.”
As both major parties move to their polar opposite directions and fail to address the rising tide of mass shootings across the country, aggressively deranged potential shooters continue to inflict pain on American communities.
A research study by forensic psychologist J. Reid Meloy concluded that obvious mental illness issues tie mass shootings together. The study reportedly found that mass murderers all suffer “chronic psychotic disturbances” including “paranoid, narcissistic, and schizoid traits of personality disorders,” the Balance reported stated.
Unfortunately, only the president is calling for improved mental health treatment and care of these “monsters.”
“These are people that are very, very seriously mentally ill,” Pres. Trump reportedly said. “It’s not the gun that pulls the trigger, it’s the people.”
