On the third anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shootings this past February, Joe Biden attended an event commemorating the tragedy, and he let America know that the Far-Left gun control agenda would be a top priority — an agenda I predicted would receive an abundance of support from the Republican Party.
With a declaration that he “will not wait” for another mass shooting like the Parkland, Florida tragedy to happen before taking action, Biden said in part:
“Today, I am calling on Congress to enact commonsense gun law reforms, including requiring background checks on all gun sales, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and eliminating immunity for gun manufacturers who knowingly put weapons of war on our streets.
“We owe it to all those we’ve lost and to all those left behind to grieve to make a change. The time to act is now.”
A few days prior to the commemoration, Biden’s head of the Domestic Policy Council, Susan Rice — who last year called for creating a national gun registry, gun buybacks, and gun bans in an interview with Moms Demand Action and Everytown For Gun Safety — and Biden senior advisor Cedric Richmond recently held a virtual meeting with representatives from Brady, Giffords, Everytown for Gun Safety, and Moms Demand Action.
According to officials, Rice and Richmond indicated that Biden was ready and willing to use multiple avenues to try to curb gun violence, including executive action.
Sadly, there have been two mass shootings since Biden’s Parkland, Florida appearance which has given him another opportunity to push the Far-Left gun control agenda.
Following the tragedy in Boulder, CO, Rep. Joe Neguse, an Eritrean-American who represents Colorado’s Second District encompassing Boulder, CO, released a statement calling for more gun control in order to keep mass shootings from becoming the “new normal.”
“It doesn’t have to be this way. There are steps we can take — and must take — to protect our community; common-sense, broadly supported proposals that will save lives. If we are truly invested in saving lives, then we must have the willpower to act and to pass meaningful gun reform. The time for inaction is over.” (emphasis mine)
Before the investigation into the Colorado tragedy had even begun, Chuck Schumer proclaimed, “The Senate is going to debate and address the epidemic of gun violence in this country” using a checklist of gun control priorities being created by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin.
“We have a lot of work to do. I’ve already committed to bringing universal background checks legislation [Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021] to the floor of the Senate. There is a hearing today in the Senate Judiciary Committee under Chairman [Dick] Durbin’s leadership to examine several commonsense proposals.”
Right on cue, Joe Biden repeated his gun control talking points in a statement to call for immediate passage of the Bipartisan Background Checks Act along with a ban on “assault weapons.”
“I don’t need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take common-sense steps that will save lives in the future,” he continued. “And to urge my colleagues in the House and Senate to act. We can ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in this country once again.
“That’s one of the best tools we have right now to prevent gun violence. The United States Senate — I hope some are listening — should immediately pass the two House-passed bills which close loopholes in the background check system.”
Shortly after this statement was made, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced Biden’s intention to go around Congress to get the gun control he wants. “We are considering a range of levers, including working through legislation, including executive action,” Psaki told reporters. “That has been under discussion and will continue to be under discussion.”
There can be little doubt that Biden and the rest of the Far-Left have every intention of destroying the Second Amendment. As I mentioned above, however, there is also little doubt about the Republican cave to the Far-Left gun control agenda; in fact, it’s about to commence.
In response to Schumer’s threat to pass gun control legislation, Mitch McConnell — the self-proclaimed “Grim Reaper” for the Far-Left agenda — appeared on FOX News’ America’s Newsroom where he engaged in a little bit of Washington doublespeak when he pretended to defend the Second Amendment while simultaneously leaving himself an “out” by welcoming a debate.
“First of all, these acts of violence are horrendous,” the Kentucky Republican said on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.” “We’ve seen them happen periodically in our history. It reminds us that the real challenge here is mental illness and identifying people who are likely do this kind of thing in advance is very, very difficult.”
McConnell said that if Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wants to bring up the issue of mass shootings and gun control, “we’ll be happy to debate it,” but still he thinks the focus should be on identifying people “in advance who have the capacity and the interest in carrying out these attacks.” (emphasis mine)
What form will the Republican cave take? I think you have your answer in the highlighted portion above. Mickey was referencing an oldie-but-goodie in Republican circles: pre-crime legislation.
An early version of pre-crime legislation was presented following the 2016 Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida. H.R.5611 was intended “to prevent terrorists from launching attacks and obtaining passports, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.” (emphasis mine).
#HR5611 allows govt to infringe your gun rights w/o charge, trial, or conviction—based merely on prediction you'll someday be a terrorist.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) July 5, 2016
Taking an eerily similar approach to that of the sci-fi movie, Minority Report, Republicans created a pre-crime unit a few years later that operated within the Department of Homeland Security. In the movie, murders were predicted using three mutated humans called “Precogs” who “previsualized” crimes before they happened, thus allowing would-be murderers to be imprisoned before they murdered.
Of course, precogs are science fiction, but Republicans created the next best thing with the Office for Partnerships to Prevent Terrorism. Today, the Republican pre-crime department is known as the Office for Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention.
OTVTP has added “targeted violence” to its prevention mission, to expand beyond terrorism. As we read on their website, “The goals of any targeted violence attack may lack a discernable political or ideological motive, but inflict the same type of trauma on communities. Consequently, OTVTP works with communities to prevent these types of attacks which include attacks on schools, workplaces, public gatherings, and other settings.” (emphasis mine)
On the state level, Republicans in Washington have made it easier for states to pass Extreme Risk Protection Order laws (aka ERPOs or red flag laws). Red flag laws allow citizens or law enforcement to anonymously petition a judge for an order giving police the authority to seize all firearms from people deemed a threat to themselves or to others … by force if necessary. No warrant. No arrest. No charges.
ERPOs were popular with Donald “take the guns first, go through due process second” Trump, along with many so-called conservatives like Sens. Linsey Graham and Marco Rubio. Graham co-sponsored a federalized ERPO law (Federal Extreme Risk Protection Act) with Richard Blumenthal in 2018, and he supported legislation proposed by Rubio in 2019 that would use our tax money to bribe states to pass ERPO laws.
Speaking of Rubio, he put red flag laws on steroids when he teamed up with Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) in 2019 to co-sponsor the Threat Assessment, Prevention, and Safety Act of 2019 (TAPS Act). The TAPS Act would encourage law enforcement to give EVERYONE a personal threat assessment (adults and children) and single out those they deem as future threats. That information would then be used as a kind of Precog substitute to “stop dangerous individuals before they can commit an act of violence.”
There was also a House version of the TAPS Act (H.R. 838) co-sponsored by Reps. Brian Babin (R-TX) and Val Demings (D-FL). The House bill recognizes “mass casualty attacks” as a “threat to public safety” that require “a proactive solution … in order to prevent future tragedies.”
When it comes to extreme and unconstitutional gun control laws, Democrats are usually first in line to find ways to destroy the Second Amendment, but Trump and the GOP adopted most, if not all, of their gun control agenda.
It’s tempting to erroneously dismiss Joe Biden and his gun control agenda as just another example of Far-Left extremism, but we need to remember that Republicans only pretend to oppose it; history shows us they will cave when the time comes to put up or shut up.
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties.
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