Biden’s Favorite Anti-Gun Mayor Blames ‘Gun Culture’ for Youth Violence

Birmingham, Alabama Mayor Randall Woodfin had some big fans in the Biden administration. The mayor was brought to the White House to speak as Biden signed an executive order cracking down on machine gun conversion devices and 3D printed firearms, and Biden even endorsed the mayor in his 2021 campaign, calling him “one of the great young leaders of our country.”

Last year, as homicides in Birmingham were soaring, Woodfin blamed Alabama’s permitless carry law and lack of an “assault weapons” ban for shootings in his community. 

After that record-setting year, however, Birmingham’s homicides are down by 46% this year. Permitless carry is still the law of the land, and Alabama lawmakers have shown no interest in adopting Woodfin’s proposed gun ban. 

Instead of admitting that he was wrong, Woodfin is instead giving police the credit for the decline, noting the city has hired 200 officers this year and giving full-throated support to Police Chief Michael Pickett. I’m sure that those additional police resources have had a huge impact, but that doesn’t let Woodfin off the hook for blaming our Second Amendment rights for the spike in homicides under his watch. 

In fact, Woodfin is still complaining about “gun culture,” though I’d argue that’s a misnomer for what he’s really talking about. 

“Gun violence is down, homicides are down, clearance rate is up, police recruitment is up,” Woodfin said. “We have a desire and a very real tangible desire to make Birmingham the safest city in America, and we can do that.”

The mayor emphasized that public safety requires community-wide involvement beyond law enforcement.

“If you have a child, as an adult and a parent, you should always know where your children are, who are their friends, what’s in their book bag, what are they bringing in your house? What are they taking out of your house? Who are they hanging with? Do you know their parents?” Woodfin said. “And to be clear, we gotta get beyond this culture that celebrates, uh, this gun culture. Violence is celebrated. Uh, we can’t champion in one hand as parents with the music we listen to and then wonder why some of our children choose some of the behavior they do.”

As an aside, if Woodfin believes that Birmingham can be the safest city in America even with a permitess carry law in place, then he absolutely should fess up for wrongly blaming the law for last year’s crime spike. 

But Woodfin also needs to be accurate about what he’s referring to when it comes to youth violence. Much of what he said is absolutely true; parents do need to know where their kids are and who they’re hanging out with. A culture that celebrates wanton acts of violence and criminality is going to breed that behavior. 

But that’s not “gun culture.” That’s thug culture. 

If Woodfin wants to see gun culture in action he should head to a local range one Saturday or Sunday. He should ask to sit in at an upcoming A Girl and a Gun event at Double Tap range in Birmingham (maybe the Breakfast and Bullets even they’ve got scheduled for December 15). He should take a training course from a firearms instructor, and talk to the other students in attendance. 

Gun ownership is so widespread and cuts across so many demographics that I don’t think there is a single “gun culture.” but given that the vast majority of gun owners aren’t violent criminals it seems obvious that any definition of “gun culture” wouldn’t be based on violent rap music, illegal gun possession, and criminal activity. Woodfin may have stopped blaming permitless carry for Birmingham’s historically high number of homicides last year, but he still can’t let go of the idea that guns (and our Second Amendment rights) are a problem in and of themselves.

Editor’s Note: Anti-gun politicians like Woodfin continue to lie about gun owners and the Second Amendment. 

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