Where a Democrat President Might Take Us

Real Clear Politics last week showed former Vice President Joe Biden leading the pack of somewhat closely grouped Democrats vying for that party’s presidential nomination. The eventual nominee will go against President Donald Trump, and Democrats already announced gun control is a central element of the party’s 2020 platform.

Democrats say 33,000 people die every year from gun violence in the United States.

Dems do begrudgingly admit about two-thirds of that number are suicides. That leaves about 11,000 people dying every year due to gun violence. Most of that gun violence involves blatant criminal activity, with gun play as a byproduct.

Rare are the instances in which one or more people choose to inflict mass casualties. So rare are such instances, that they qualify as outliers and aberrant behavior, rather than the norm.

Yet, firearms are a politically expedient subject. And an old journalism adage goes: “If it bleeds; it leads.” That means bloody headlines draw more attention than tame ones. The combination of political expediency among liberals and sensationalism in the national press make firearms a key element of the upcoming national election. With Pres. Trump in the White House and the GOP controlling the Senate, Dems have no leverage to push their anti-gun agenda.

Yet, if the Senate should fall to Democrats in 2020, the House stays in Dems hands, and the Democrat nominee (whoever he/she is) defeats Trump for the presidency, here is a brief look at what you might expect in 2020-2024 as far as firearms regulation and eroding the Second Amendment.

Top 5 Candidates Polling Average

Joe Biden:  26 percent
Bernie Sanders: 14 percent
Elizabeth Warren: 13.8 percent
Kamala Harris: 15.2 percent
Pete Buttigieg: 5.2 percent

Despite Joe Biden’s disasterous performance on the Democrat debate stage he still has a sizeable lead over the other major contenders, but his lead has been slipping in recent weeks. Biden recently said he thinks only “smart” guns should be sold. Those are firearms with costly electronic identifiers that ensure only the licensed owner can use it. “Our enemy is the gun manufacturer,” Biden claims.

Sanders wants to ban “assault weapons,” which means about any semi-auto pistol or rifle capable of holding more than 10 rounds. He also wants to expand background checks and closed the so-called gun-show loophole, which means ending private transfers among individuals.

Warren wants to push gun buyback programs to remove firearms from law-abiding citizens and is pushing for universal background checks. She likens firearms violence to a “public health emergency,” and clearly wants to limit access to any rifle that looks remotely cool.

Harris comes across as the most Draconian anti-gun Dem candidate. This is despite admitting she owns a gun herself. She wants to either pass comprehensive gun reform legislation within 100 days of taking office, or use presidential executive action to implement background checks, revoke licenses of gun dealers who violate the law, and ban the importation of any kind of rifle—semi-auto, pump action, you name it.

Buttigieg is the least likely of the top five Dem presidential candidates to receive the nomination or to win against President Trump, but his gun control agenda is still worrisome nonetheless. He wants universal background checks and to ban firearms in schools.

Buttigieg’s appeal mostly is as an openly gay presidential candidate, and mayor of South Bend. That city, though, has a sizeable minority population that already is opposed to his potential presidency due to local violence involving the city police force. The odds of Buttigieg securing the nomination are very long.

That leaves four major candidates fighting it out to secure the Democratic presidential nomination – and maybe even win the 2020 election. Gun violence in the United States is a hot-button issue that drives headlines and political donations. Many well-funded organizations and individuals opposed to the Second Amendment and general gun ownership will be very active in pushing an anti-gun agenda. That means lots of anti-gun political ads in states and locales where such a message will be viewed as positive for candidates.

The Democrat Party says it should not be easier to obtain a firearm than it is to get a drivers’ license. The argument is invalid, though, since the vast majority of civilian firearm sales and transfers occur via licensed FFL dealers. That also means the gun buyers either passed a background check, or have a CCW permit and already own and have been cleared to own firearms.

Democrats know gun violence is not a major problem in the United States, and some security modifications likely could address many issues. Checking people for firearms, rather than relying on the honor system to enforce gun-free zones is a perfect example. Banning so-called assault weapons also proved useless in the past, and will again. So would most other anti-gun proposals.