‘Doing Something’ in Wake of Uvalde Looks Like GOP ‘Moderates’ Caving on Red Flags

U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- “Democrats peddle gun control at their own peril,” a Monday Townhall column confidently asserted, pegging further pushes on citizen disarmament a losing strategy for November. “I can assure you, by focusing on gun control, the ‘red wave’ will only become redder.”

“Let’s not get too confident,” was my response the next day on The War on Guns blog. “Not trusting the ‘staunchness’ of most Republicans, I can’t [assure anyone]. I think we just haven’t had the ‘right’ massacre to get a critical mass to turn tail.”

Later that day news reports began coming in about the murders at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX. Democrats immediately did what Democrats do – blamed “lax gun laws” and demanded more of them, all the while attacking and insulting anyone who believes in the uninfringed right of the people to keep and bear arms. And cracks have begun to appear in the Republican façade.

Some of the gun-grabber demands are just that, from Dotard-in-Chief Joe Biden (once again) putting out the call and setting the tone for national hysteria by parroting a ludicrous script about deer in Kevlar vests. Others, like the demand by Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr to pass a “background checks” bill conveniently disregard that the Uvalde child killer passed his (and unlike Hunter Biden, apparently without lying). Then there are sheer professional blood dancing publicity hounds like Beto O’Rourke, who brazenly inserted himself at Gov. Greg Abbott’s press conference in order to score points for his gubernatorial political campaign.

“When it comes to gun bans, the barrier is the Second Amendment, not the gun lobby,” law professor Jonathan Turley reminded readers of The Hill. He’s on the right track, but being an academic enamored of precedent, he wanders into the legal weeds.

“There are some gun limits that could pass constitutional muster, but they will not materially reduce the number of guns in society or, necessarily, gun violence,” Turley muses, not naming what those “constitutional” infringements might be (albeit admitting they wouldn’t do any good is a significant concession).  “There also are a variety of areas that could offer real benefits in reducing such shootings, from badly needed mental health program funding and greater school security to more effective ‘red flag’ laws,” he offers, and that’s where we’re seeing Republican resolve wavering and the danger of federal legislation beginning to focus.

“Bipartisan talks on ‘red flag laws’ pick up after Texas shooting,” Axios reports.

Democrats, we don’t need to concern ourselves with, at least for now—assume they’re all for whatever disarmament edicts they can get whenever they can get them. It’s the Republicans gun owners need to focus on, and there are few surprises here: Susan Collins is a given. So is NRSC Chair Rick Scott if you’ve been following what a phony on the gun issue he’s always been. Read the article and see the other names either receptive to the idea (like Lindsey Graham, who’s already tried to pass a bill) or wavering.

That this is the state of the GOP is hardly surprising, given the signals they receive from the “800 Lb. gorilla.” The NRA is headlining Donald Trump of “Take the guns first, go through due process second” (and ban “bump stocks”!) notoriety at its annual meeting in Houston on Friday. Originally scheduled to speak, but now passing along their regrets, are (NRA-backed) “mental health bill” prior restraint supporter John Cornyn and Department of Pre-Crime/”red flag” advocate Dan Crenshaw.

The weakness has not gone unnoticed.

“Anti-gun left using TX tragedy to cower pro-gun Republicans,” Gun Owners of America observed in a Wednesday national alert:

“We must discuss real solutions to preventing this type of evil from striking again, for example, by arming willing teachers—which is a solution supported by 81% of police. No school that has armed teachers or staff has ever experienced a mass shooting. We must also repeal the unconstitutional Gun Free School Zones Act which leaves our children vulnerable to criminals and our parents unarmed to defend them.”

They have a pre-written form letter for writing our representatives and senators that I recommend using when yours are approachable and amenable to reason.  I’ve noted in the past I don’t see much point in asking Chuck Schumer or Dianne Feinstein for any consideration and in this case, my belief is Republicans need to be focused on exclusively.

Unfortunately, “our” representatives aren’t all that interested in hearing from all voters, just those in their districts, even though legislation they enact affects us all and they’ll happily accept campaign contributions from other districts and states. They make it so you can contact YOUR senators and representative but don’t want one citizen to be able to easily contact others.

An alternative is congresspeople and senators are probably on Twitter (see this locator tool) and sending them a message there has the added effect of being seen by and built upon by others. I understand some will object to that, don’t have a further workaround, and would be interested in hearing if they do.

Assuming you’re willing to make your voice heard, what do you say?

GOA’s language, above, gives us a good start. You could also mention that researcher John Lott has shown:

“While about 30% of school districts in Texas 2020 had armed teachers and staff, unfortunately, the Robb Elementary School in the Uvalde, Texas CISD doesn’t appear to be one of them … There are no provisions in their regulations for teachers or staff to carry.”

I intend to just be blunt, with a statement put together at another time of extraordinary pressure when Republicans were considering “compromise” to be in their political interests and some in the gun industry were considering giving them a pass:

We won’t stand for scapegoating. No new gun laws. Deny success to mass murderers by abolishing phony ‘gun-free’ victim/killer enabling zones now. Work with us or we will work to retire you.

Republicans need to understand in no uncertain terms that the best way to break up the anticipated “red wave” is to demoralize their core constituents.

About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.