You have watched with America as a strange set of events has unfolded over the last two weeks. First, an assassin attempted to take President Donald Trump’s life at a rally in Butler Township, PA, then this weekend, Joe Biden’s campaign collapsed, and he endorsed Kamala Harris in his stead. Following the assassination attempt, in which the attempted assassin used an AR-15 rifle, there have been renewed calls by progressives for gun control. The Wall Street Journal’s Cameron McWhirter and Zusha Elinson report:
Gun-rights groups, from the National Rifle Association to powerful state organizations, say that the issue wasn’t guns but rather security lapses by the Secret Service and others that allowed the shooter, identified by authorities as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, to get close enough to fire at Trump and others at the rally from his rooftop position before being killed by Secret Service sharpshooters. Crooks used a DPMS Panther Arms AR-15 model that was purchased by his father more than a decade ago, a law-enforcement official said.
Crooks’s motive remains under investigation.
“Given what information has been shared thus far, there isn’t a single gun-control law that could have prevented this heinous and cowardly attack,” said Randy Kozuch, who heads the NRA’s political arm.
Gun-rights advocates also say that an AR-15 ban wouldn’t have helped because other types of weapons are much more effective sniper rifles.
Kris Brown, the current president of Brady United, said she hopes that the shooting will cause Republicans to take action on the gun issue as the group’s namesake Jim Brady did. A lifelong Republican, Brady worked with his wife Sarah to pass tighter gun laws after he was shot in the 1981 assassination attempt of Reagan while working as his press secretary.
Brady enlisted his former boss to support the 1993 Brady Bill, which instituted the modern background check system, and the 1994 federal assault-weapons ban, said Walker, the group’s former leader. Reagan cosigned a letter calling the ban a “matter of vital importance to public safety,” giving political cover to suburban Republicans and rural Democrats to support the hotly contested measure.
To be sure, Reagan didn’t support such legislation while he was in office. He signed the 1986 Firearms Owners’ Protection Act, which loosened existing gun laws and prohibited the federal government from keeping a gun registry. The act did outlaw new machine guns, a concession to Democrats who controlled the House.
Action Line: Bad guys with guns are going to get them whether they’re banned or not. Gun control will only disarm the law-abiding, leaving them defenseless. You don’t want that for your family. When trouble comes, you’re the last line of defense. And when seconds count, police are minutes away. Get your gun and your training now, with an emphasis on the training. In times of trouble, people rarely rise to the occasion, instead they fall to the level of their training. Ensure your level of training isn’t below what’s necessary for the moment. Click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy
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