As a woman who lives on her own with her children, the ability to protect myself and my family is paramount. That was thrown into sharp relief this spring when someone tried to break into my house and the response from police, even after someone gave me the name of the suspect, was, in a word, lackluster. See, because he didn't damage my property but was clearly caught on video trying to get into my windows—going so far as to move a trash can underneath one in a failed attempt to climb it—there really wasn't a crime committed.
But maybe they'd increase patrols in my neighborhood for a while.
Gee, thanks.
Thankfully, our brilliant Founding Fathers enshrined my right to keep and bear arms in our Constitution not only to deal with a tyrannical government, but to make up for that government's inability and unwillingness to protect us from the criminals they don't throw behind bars. You'll be not shocked to learn that the suspect had a lengthy rap sheet and had just been released from prison again right before he tried breaking into my house.
Anyway, even in my college days when I was more liberal, I was always strongly in favor of gun rights. The notion that just because someone does something bad with a gun means an innocent person must be punished never sat well with me. Now that I'm more conservative, my support of the Second Amendment is even stronger.
That's why when anti-gun leftists tell me they just want "common sense" gun control measures, I say, "No, thank you."
The condescension of this is my favorite part of this post by "speaker and advocate" Khary Penebaker.
Dear responsible gun owners: the laws we are asking for would not touch you. Background checks, safe storage, red flags. If your rifle is locked and your record is clean, the only thing you lose is a talking point.
— Khary Penebaker (@kharyp) July 22, 2026
Even under this scheme, I already lose my Second Amendment rights and the sanctity of the Fourth Amendment, too. How else do we think they'd know if my rifle is "locked"? Someone would have to come into my home to inspect it, of course.
Kamala Harris herself laid the groundwork for this in 2007, when she told reporters, "Just because you legally possess a gun in the sanctity of your locked home doesn't mean that we're not going to walk into that home and check to see if you're being responsible."
And once we let people like Kamala Harris define what is and isn't "responsible" in my home, it's all over. I have a rather healthy collection of alcohol and wine in my kitchen. Undoubtedly, Harris and our buddy Penebaker there would consider that "irresponsible" and take my guns.
More to the point, the laws Penebaker asks for would not and have not, as far as I'm aware, done a thing to end gun violence. In the recent mass shootings (carried out largely by transgenders or left-wingers, by the way), the guns used were either legally obtained by the shooter or someone in the shooter's family. For street-level crime, those thugs are stealing guns or using straw purchasers—both things that skirt "common sense" gun laws.
And, as always, I like to point out that the Left has no interest in enforcing gun laws that are already on the books and even less interest in putting violent criminals in prison. In both Chicago and Cambridge, leftist leaders did away with the cities’ Shotspotter programs, on the grounds that too many black and brown people were being arrested for shooting other black and brown people. That's resulted in dozens of deaths in Chicago and at least one in Cambridge so far, and most of the victims are ... black and brown men.
Earlier this month, a Venezuelan national gang member who sold guns to undercover ATF agents in Cook County, IL, won't serve a lick of prison time for his crimes. Had he sold the guns to other gang members and not federal agents, people likely would have died. But this man will not spend a day behind bars.
In April, Shamar Elkins murdered eight children in Shreveport, LA during a "domestic disturbance." The children ranged in age from 1-year-old to 14, and Elkins was the father of seven of the victims. In 2019, Elkins was arrested for illegal use of weapons and carrying a firearm on school property. He reportedly fired shots at a car outside a Shreveport high school and pleaded guilty to the weapons charge. The firearm charge was dismissed and Elkins was given probation instead of prison time. And thanks to a loophole in LA law, he wasn't barred from owning a firearm.
That same month, former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax shot and killed his estranged wife, Cerina in their home before turning the gun on himself. Fairfax was a proponent of so-called "red flag" laws that would strip people of their guns if they had mental or emotional problems or accusations of violence, including domestic abuse. Fairfax had become increasingly troubled following a failed gubernatorial campaign that was derailed by allegations of sexual misconduct. When his marriage fell apart, the Washington Post reported that Fairfax became "increasingly erratic" and was ordered to leave his home and lost custody of his children. It was reported that the service of paperwork related to the divorce was the final straw that prompted the heinous act of violence. Despite all these massive red flags, the laws that Fairfax himself championed were not applied to him. Now his wife is dead, he is dead, and their teenage children are orphaned.
When it was revealed that VA Attorney General Jay Jones fantasized about putting "two bullets to the head" of Republican Todd Gilbert, and wished that Gilbert's sons would be shot and die in their mother's arms in order to get Gilbert on board with gun control legislation, the anti-gun group Giffords endorsed Jones.
It appears the gun control laws Penebaker says "won't touch" law-abiding gun owners don't touch criminals, either. Which is the point, of course. They want more gun crime, not less. His argument is the proverbial camel's nose under the tent, the start of a creep of "common sense" gun control laws that don't work, so there's more gun violence, and more incrementalism that gun control advocates hope will end with the repeal of the Second Amendment and the (attempted) confiscation of our guns. And given the plans the Democratic Socialists of America have laid out for us, it's clear we can't let that happen.