Democrats have inexplicably become lust-addled for gun control of late, almost as if they are hell-bent on committing suicide. What has caused this malady that has so many Democrats willing jump into the jaws of defeat so eagerly and willingly?
The sea change in opinions on guns.
A few facts, via Gallup polling unless otherwise specified:
Did you know that in 1959, nearly two-thirds of Americans supported a total ban on handguns? Today, 27% support such a ban, and Rasmussen’s survey put support for a handgun ban at a third less at 18%.
In 1993, 52% thought of a gun in the home created more danger than safety. In 2014, 63% of Americans saw a gun in the home as making it a safer place to live.
By nearly a three-to-two margin (56-41), Americans believe concealed carry laws make citizens safer.
Consistently for the last twenty-five years, the NRA has been viewed favorably by nearly two thirds of those polled.
Polling data also shows a declining level of gun ownership (49% in 1959 vs. 42% in 2008 and 41% in 2015), but frankly, one could also interpret that data as showing something even more profound: Americans’ willingness to admit to a stranger calling that they have guns in the home.
Contrast that supposed drop in gun ownership polling data with hard data what’s happened in Illinois. Illinois requires gun owners to carry a valid Firearms Owner’s ID card. The cost is $10 and FOID applicants are subject to an intensive background investigation prior to being issued a license, and it’s a felony for an Illinois resident to possess a gun – even at home – without a FOID card. Obtaining a FOID card not something done on a whim, and the commitment to getting a card is a great deal more than clicking “Like” on a Facebook post.
In 2009, Illinois had 1,260,521 valid FOID holders. In 2015, that number was about 1.9 million, a 50% increase in the number of registered gun owners since the inauguration of Barack Obama.
This phenomenal growth in new gun owners in Illinois is surely not atypical of the entire nation. Gun sales certainly indicate an even sharper increase in the number of guns sold. One measuring stick for counting gun purchases is the NICS data, as a NICS check is required of anyone buying a gun from a licensed dealer. “Unlicensed” dealers go to prison as there is no provision in the law for individuals to earn a living by selling guns without a license.
Total gun sales in America have risen sharply nationwide. In 2000, 8,543,847 NICS checks for those buying guns. While a tiny handful were denied, many more represent multiple purchases on a single check. In 2015, there were 23,141,970 NICS checks made on firearm purchasers. That’s nearly a 300% increase in the number of guns sold. 225 million guns have been sold since 1999.
Support for a national “scary guns” ban has plummeted to the lowest level in 20 years. A December 2015 ABC News/Washington Post Poll showed only 45% of Americans supporting such a ban, down from 80% in 1994.
What’s more, crime is at historical lows in America outside of inner-cities most affected by the “Ferguson Effect”. Despite (or perhaps because of) burgeoning firearms ownership, homicides are down 50% since 1994. Gun accidents are at historical lows.
This sea change has influenced elections – some dramatically. Even the left-leaning mainstream media acknowledges it – and so does Bill Clinton.
Hillary Clinton’s push on gun control marks a shift in presidential politics
(Washington Post) – In his memoir, “My Life,” former president Bill Clinton suggested that his vice president, Al Gore, lost the 2000 presidential election in part because of backlash in states such as Arkansas and Tennessee over the Clinton administration’s 1995 ban on assault weapons, which has since expired. Many Democratic lawmakers also lost their elections after gun-control votes.
Why then the Democrats suicidal support for unpopular gun control?
So, given the massive spike in gun ownership evidenced nationwide, along with the plummeting support for gun control have some Democrats – including most high-profile Dems – embracing a unpopular campaign topic? Especially their passionate distaste for guns seldom used in crime?
Two things: Money and Power. Money is the means. Power represents the end goal.
Money.
In a time when money flowing to Democrats isn’t exactly as plentiful as it has been in the past. It’s so bad Democrats don’t even have enough money to pay for their own convention this year.
So finding big donors is tougher and keeping the ones you already have is an even higher priority.
So when money pours in from billionaires, including Michael Bloomberg, Bill Gates, George Soros, Carlos Slim and a few others, you align your messaging to their way of thinking. Translation: Their money buys the political candidates. This money might not be specifically designated for gun issues, but everyone knows how these people feel about guns, and a host of other social issues.
Robin Kelly in Illinois is a prime example of a candidate who wasn’t exactly passionate about gun control until Bloomberg dropped $2.2 million into her then-struggling campaign to succeed Jesse Jackson Jr. following Jackson’s felony conviction. When someone like Bloomberg gives you a big check that dwarfs your opponent, your only question of him is how high to need to jump.
Democrat New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is another example of a candidate who became rabidly anti-gun following big checks from big, anti-gun donors.
Control – aka to have power over another.
An armed society is not an oppressed society.
Gun control is not about controlling guns, but controlling people by having power over them. Democrats, as Bob Owens points out, have made it their mission to control people by “helping” them. When it comes to guns, the Democrats promise increased safety through sacrificing freedom and liberty.
Democrats say: “Give us your guns and we’ll keep you safe.”
That worked well for the American Indians, didn’t it?
And Japanese-Americans during World War II.
The “Progressive” movement’s funding sources are particularly radical, as are many of today’s far-left Democrats. In a world where an openly socialist Bernie Sanders is polling neck in neck with Hillary Clinton, it’s clear today’s Democrat party is not the party of John F. Kennedy.
Wayne LaPierre asks in a recent NRA video: “What kind of government cares more about appeasing Islamic terrorists than defending the constitutional rights of its citizens?”
He answers that question with his next line: “A government that would disarm us during the age of terror.”
These would-be oligarchs funding today’s Democrats fear armed Americans.
The left and its complicit allies in the mainstream media, fear armed Americans.
Armed Americans don’t get oppressed.
Hang onto your guns, ladies and gentlemen.
They are what keeps you free.
And elections have consequences. Make sure you vote early and vote often. Make sure your pro-gun friends do the same.
Get engaged. Get active.
Mr. Boch: I believe you are right.
I’m predicting a Donald Trump sweep in nearly all 50 states.
Gun control seems to appeal the most with people who aren’t at all engaged, the less intelligent, and those who live on the entitlement plantation.
The same could be said for the Democrat party in general, come to think of it.
Americans are getting more involved, thanks to Trump, and their are becoming better informed. Both are toxic to far-left Democrats.
Sam
Does this article take into consideration those trillions of guns purchased at gun shows through that gun show loop hole? My little Johnny went on a school field trip to one and came home with a fully auto Ghost gun. (He told the teacher it was a garden hose nozzle)
Roflmao “garden hose nozzle”!!
John you are exactly right. US history is full of examples of our own government abusing and killing its own law abiding citizens. World history shows that governments kill millions of innocent people.
Obama’s own words – “The United States was born suspicious of some distant authority.”
You bet the colonists were suspicious – and with good reason. They were suffering under a lawless, tyrannical, tax and spend king who had nothing but contempt for the colonists.
Sounds a lot like today.
BHO- history’s greatest gun salesman.
Today’s Democrats: Amnesty for illegals and gulags for gun owners.
It is good that gun owners are not one millionth as blood-thirsty as Democrats make us out to be or there would be few moonbats left.
“Amnesty for illegals and gulags for gun owners.”
Yep. And nukes for the Iranians and guns for the Mexican drug cartels.