Monday night was Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-MA) chance to answer questions during a CNN town hall. Naturally, one of the questions an audience member asked was about firearms and how to curb gun violence. Warren's response was nothing shy of the normal anti-gunner sentiment.
"So, here's how I look at this. Laws should reflect our values. Laws are about our morals," Warren replied. "And, right now, across this country, we lose, on average, seven and teenagers every single day to gun violence. Just pause for a minute and think. If we were losing seven children every single day to some mysterious virus, man, we'd be pulling out all the stops to say, 'What can we do to change that? Where's the medicine we need to develop? How can we respond? Where do we need to do?'"
Warren went on to suggest that absolutely nothing is being done to curb gun violence.
"But, instead, with gun violence, right now, we don't do anything, not even the most sensible kinds of things. Background checks at the federal level. No fly, no buy. Like, if you're on the terrorist watch list, maybe you shouldn't be able to buy a gun," Warren explained.
But she's 100 percent, unequivocally wrong.
Every single firearm buyer who purchases from a gun dealer – commonly referred to as a federal firearms licensee (or FFL) – is required to undergo a background check. Her or she has to fill out form 4473. The information is put into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) and the system tells the gun dealer whether or not the buyer passes. That is a federal law. If someone isn't undergoing a background check for purchases from an FFL, the transaction isn't legal. And that's a whole other ball game in itself.
Gun rights activists have fought "no fly, no buy" because of the lack of due process. If you do something to upset an airline agent or cause a scene on a flight, you can be put on the no fly list. That doesn't mean that you're a criminal. It doesn't mean that you have horrible intentions to commit a terrorist act. It can mean you're a pain in the butt and airlines don't want to deal with you.
But once you're placed on that list, there's no fighting it. It's not like you show up in court to prove why you shouldn't be on the list. Once they make that decision, that's it.
Why should that determination be linked to your God-given right to keep and bear arms? The two do not go hand-in-hand. People don't think about that though because they're assuming that the list only includes actual suspected terrorists, not just annoying, average, every day Americans.
"Weapons of war do not belong on our streets. No bump stocks to make it easier to kill. No," Warren continued. "There is so much that we could do to improve safety for our children and for all of us. Things that people agree with, who are gun owners, and things that people agree with who are not gun owners. And we have to do them on a federal level."
First of all, these so called "weapons of war" that gun control advocates continually reference are AR-15s. These anti-gunners will tell you the AR stands for "assault weapon" even though it doesn't. It stands for Armalite Model 15, Armalite being the original makers of the AR-15.
Second, bump stocks don't "make it easier to kill." It's an accessory and it's not even an accurate one. People who use bump stocks aren't relying on it for accuracy. They have it simply because they can. And, theoretically, anything can be a bump stock. A hair tie. A belt loop. Your finger.
Third, gun owners are absolutely tired of compromising on things. We have background checks. We have waiting periods. We have the National Firearms Act. We have to ask for permission for licenses and permits to carry in some states. We had the Assault Weapons Ban. We now have the bump stock ban (which is being challenged in court).
The Second Amendment didn't come with stipulations in its text. It's something the Supreme Court decided. But gun owners across the nation feel that our rights are constantly being infringed. We're afraid to give an inch because anti-Second Amendment advocates take a mile.
Gun control advocates fundamentally disagree with our view of life, liberty and property. They don't understand our desire to protect ourselves, our loved ones and our property. There's no possible way we can convince them to see things from our point of view. It will never happen. And that's why people like Warren say we're "not doing enough" because we're not going to willingly hand over our rights. It's why so many of us say MOLON LABE on a daily basis. We know the fight we're in and we're not compromising.
“With gun violence, right now we’re not doing anything. Not even the most sensible kinds of things, background checks … This is a national problem,” Elizabeth Warren says when asked about gun control. #WarrenTownHall pic.twitter.com/9H6cDtsFCW
— CNN (@CNN) March 19, 2019
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