Beto O'Rourke's vulgar PR stunt in Uvalde, Texas, yesterday probably did his misbegotten gubernatorial bid no good. But it supplied us with a teachable moment nevertheless. And since progressives have wasted no time playing politics with this latest atrocity, I see no reason to delay my own analysis of gun control politicking.
This latest mass shooting has raised the usual cry from the Left for more gun control—in what form, however, is a little unclear. In seems that in their dreams, progressives long for draconian gun control to be directed against the NRA, gun manufacturers and, of course, the (White) American deplorables who cling bitterly to their assault rifles. The evildoers would thus be punished and “our democracy” would advance into the Radiant Future.
There are a couple of problems with this, however.
As I noted in yesterday's Quick Take, mass shooting, lurid and horrible though they are, represent a mere fraction of total “gun violence” in America. Moreover, rifles of all types account for around 3% of gun homicides. The rest are perpetrated with handguns.
Obviously, therefore, an assault weapons ban would not measurably reduce gun homicides. Probably it wouldn’t even reduce mass shootings.
It’s true that gun control advocates have other ideas, such as universal background checks. But of course, background checks are practically universal already; both the Buffalo shooter and the Uvalde shooter underwent and passed background checks when they legally purchased the weapons they used to commit their atrocities. Perhaps it might be a good idea to raise the age at which one can legally purchase firearms from 18 to 21. But while I have no problem with that, it would, like an assault weapons ban, do little to address the overall problem.
Just what is that overall problem? It’s based on a couple of facts decidedly unwelcome to progressives. The first is that a disproportionate percentage of violent felonies, including gun homicides, are committed by young black men. In round numbers black Americans, who comprise about 12% of the US population, commit over 50% of gun homicides. The second is that many of the gun control laws on the books are not rigorously enforced.
For instance, so-called straw purchase of guns is illegal under federal and many state laws. A straw purchase occurs when guns are legally bought with the intention of illegally reselling or otherwise transferring them. This is one way in which guns get into the hands of urban street gangs—but the laws in place to combat the practice are rarely enforced. When asked why not, law enforcement agencies plead lack of resources or more pressing operational priorities, and this is true as far as it goes. (In passing it might be added that the defund-the-cops movement was no help.)
There’s another reason lurking in the background, however. In cities like Chicago, vigorous enforcement of straw-purchase laws would result in the arrest, prosecution and incarceration of large numbers young black men—who both run and patronize a thriving black market in firearms.
Let’s just say that the Democratic-progressive politicians who run most of our big cities don’t want to go there.
Thus when it comes to law enforcement, progressives are devoted practitioners of doublethink. They’re all in favor of it when the hammer is to fall on people and groups they dislike: the January 6 insurrectionists, the NRA, deplorable White people who own AR-15s, etc. But when it comes to progressivism’s designated mascot groups, not so much. In New York City, matters are so arranged that a criminal arrested for sticking a handgun in someone’s face can count on being be back on the street in short order. The State of New York has a red flag law, and you’d think that menacing someone with a Beretta 92X would raise a dozen of them. But no. The carceral state, you see, must be abolished on grounds of systemic racism, White supremacy, etc. So the handgun brandisher goes free, perhaps to assault or kill someone a few days later.
In short, for all their emoting, all their angst, progressives are frivolous and ineffectual on the issue of gun violence—more interested in persecuting their ideological foes than they are in managing the problem. They have no solutions that make sense because they cannot quite reconcile their desire for gun control with their belief that law enforcement is irredeemably racist. Doublethink indeed…they need it…