Night three of the Democratic National Convention focused on a few issues outside of the headline speeches from former President Barack Obama and vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris. At the start of the night, gun control was pushed as a way to fix the country's growing violence in its various cities.
"Tonight we’re going to talk about where we are and where we’re going on so many issues important to our future. 90% of Americans support common-sense gun laws because we need to do more to address the epidemic of gun violence. Let’s start there," moderator and actress Kerry Washington said before a video montage was played.
The video featured speeches from survivors of shootings and gun control activists, such as Emma Gonzalez and former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ):
"They say that tougher gun laws do not decrease gun violence. We call B.S. They say a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun, we call B.S. They say guns are just tools like knives. We call B.S. This is no laws could have been able to prevent the hundreds of senseless tragedies that occurred. We call B.S. That us kids don’t know what we’re talking about, we’re too young to understand how the government works. We call B.S.," Emma Gonzalez.
"We are at a crossroads. We can let the shooting continue or we can act. We can protect our families, our future, we can vote. We can be on the right side of history. We must elect Joe Biden. He was there for me, he’ll be there for you too. Join us in this fight," Giffords said.
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While not dismissing their heartbreaking experiences, it only told one side of the story. As previously stated, cities are seeing a wave of violent crime, but it's coming at a time when there are calls, from Democrats and progressives, to defund police departments. Steps taken to do so have already achieved devastating results.
In the city of America's perpetual temper tantrum, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler (D) disbanded the Portland Police Bureau's Gun Violence Reduction Team. Two months later, Portland saw a "historic spike in gun violence...Last month, there were 15 homicides in Portland—the largest monthly tally the city has seen in 30 years," according to Willamette Week. That's not accounting for the city's nightly riots, which have now spread to residential neighborhoods.
New York City saw a surge in shootings after the New York City Police Department got rid of its plainclothes anti-crime unit.
On top of all the "regularly scheduled" crime in cities, Americans now have to deal with waves of unrest that can occur without notice and may have to deal with chaos without the help of the police. I saw it firsthand when I was in Minneapolis at the height of the riots after the death of George Floyd. Entire sections of the city were abandoned by law enforcement, leaving it in the firm hands of rioters and looters. NPR reported how Latino residents became the new "rooftop Koreans" and defended their businesses and homes with firearms.
These guys say they support the protests but not the looting. Showed up to help this tobacco store owner stop people from breaking in pic.twitter.com/x2FMQiQwVK
— Max Nesterak (@maxnesterak) May 28, 2020
Since then, the city leaders have moved to disband the Minneapolis Police Department and shootings have reached "unprecedented" levels, with 275 people have been victims of gunfire so far this year, more than the entire annual totals of all but two of the past 10 years, the Star Tribune reported.
Unfortunately, the unrest from Minneapolis spread across the United States, and again, people were shown to use their firearms to protect themselves and their livelihoods.
BREAKING: Armed business owners are now stationed outside and on top their properties in Santa Monica. They are taking their protection into their own hands now. @FOXLA pic.twitter.com/GTawCJPA2g
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) June 1, 2020
Similar to how defunding police departments can hurt poor communities, which are often made up of minorities, while those who push gun control might have good intentions, it will end up doing more harm than good, with minorities bearing the brunt of the laws.
Americans are not stupid. They have seen the riots, mobs, and rising crime rates and have responded accordingly.
July saw an estimated 1.7 million guns being sold, a 133 percent increase from July 2019. Around 2.3 million guns were sold during June, an increase of more than 145 percent from June 2019, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
Campaigning on restricting gun access while also wanting to defund sections or entire police departments during such an uncertain time in the nation may backfire on Democrats in November.
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