“Take the guns first, go through due process second.”
President Donald Trump, 2019 After El Paso Mass Shooting.
Obviously, then President Trump’s proposal regarding a potential federal red flag statute went nowhere. It is telling that even someone as beholden to his MAGA voters, the most rabid regarding the imaginary powers of the 2nd Amendment, even Donald Trump believed a national red flag law made sense. And even under Donald Trump it didn’t get done. Now, the “no compromise” gun advocacy groups are lining up to preclude consideration of a 2022 version.
Despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of Americans favor some kind of background check and red flag laws, the usual suspects are planning their strongest opposition effort yet. According to The Hill, Dudley Brown, president of the National Association for Gun Rights: “We’re already planning our full attack plan on it.” They call themselves “No Compromise” gun advocacy groups.
While Canada has already, for all intents and purposes, banned any future sale of 1,500 types of guns, including handguns, the country with the mass shootings, the United States, has groups with such blood lust that they’ll oppose a law that proposes to take a lethal weapon of war away from someone demonstrating mental instability or violent ideation.
To people like Brown, the idea of taking guns away even temporarily, even for the owner’s safety is abhorrent:
“We assume the worst, especially when you have a big tragedy and the leadership of your party, you know, talking about working out a bipartisan deal,” Brown said, noting his 29 years of lobbying on gun issues. “We expect every bit of a kind of fight we had right after Newtown, Connecticut.”
Assuming the worst? The entirety of the Left and a good chunk of all other voters assume the worst from groups like Brown’s, who block all efforts to legislate some compassionate common sense. The roadblock is inevitably effective and ensures that the “worst” actually happens to kids at Robb Elementary, even after the kids from Parkland did all they could to call “B.S.” on Brown. Gun advocacy groups see their effort obtain “the best” result, time and again, as regularly as mass shootings.
These gun advocacy groups are not necessarily terrified of the cops confiscating a mentally disturbed person’s AR-15. Most of these groups likely fear the inevitable court cases brought about by a federal red flag law, court cases that would inevitably solidify the limits of the 2nd Amendment.
The 2nd Amendment is not a personal constitutional right, it is a public or state right. Red flag cases would expose the weak underpinnings of the 2nd Amendment. The 2nd Amendment is not, in fact, a personal right. Commit a felony, any felony, and watch your 2nd Amendment right evaporate for life.
Felons who have completed their sentence, meaning any prison time, parole/probation, and fines, regain the entirety of their First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, and Fourteenth rights. Those are personal Constitutional rights. Felons do, however, lose their 2nd Amendment rights for life and the only process on the federal level to get their 2nd Amendment right back is through a pardon or commutation. Gun advocacy groups are terrified that the public will learn that the 2nd Amendment is weaker than what your average single issue “2A voter” believes.
Brown knows this: “We play the long-term game. We don’t forget this stuff,” he says, regarding which Republicans may cave to “common sense.” If common sense ever prevailed, the limits on the 2nd Amendment might prevail. The money spigot might tighten and thus “no compromise” is the only way to ensure the money flows openly. That these efforts mean blood flows openly, too, is the videogame makers’ problem.
Tragic. Even Donald Trump could figure this issue out.
“House Democratic leaders have already scheduled a vote next week on ‘red flag’ legislation, designed to keep weapons from potentially violent people.” https://t.co/qq6IBPCDDd
— Katie S. Phang (@KatiePhang) June 1, 2022
Jason Miciak believes a day without learning is a day not lived. He is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is a Canadian-born dual citizen who spent his teen and college years in the Pacific Northwest and has since lived in seven states. He now enjoys life as a single dad of a young girl, writing from the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He loves crafting his flower pots, cooking, while also studying scientific philosophy, religion, and non-math principles behind quantum mechanics and cosmology. Please feel free to contact for speaking engagements or any concerns.