Democrats Likely to be Disappointed Over No New Gun Regulations after Madison Shooting

There’s one thing I have to hand to gun control advocates, and that’s their optimism. They seem to always be sure that gun control is not just viable, but that there’s a strong chance of it happening regardless of the circumstances.

OK, I’m not sure if it’s optimism so much as self-delusion, but it’s definitely there.

For example, we recently had a very high-profile shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin. Two innocent lives were taken–I refuse to count the killer in the loss of life category–and quite a few others were injured. 

Sure enough, a lot of gun control-favoring lawmakers are hoping they can make something happen.

As details continue to emerge in an investigation into the shooting carried out last week at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Democratic lawmakers at the state and federal level feel a renewed sense of urgency in calling for gun policies they believe would prevent deaths.

“I’m a responsible gun owner and a representative of a state which has a proud sporting tradition, including hunting,” said U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison. “But I also understand that commonsense gun safety laws do not violate the Second Amendment. In fact, they save lives.”

Baldwin advocated for mandating universal background checks to accompany every firearm sale and allowing police to issue extreme risk protection orders, a policy known as a red flag law. Such an order would give law enforcement the power to temporarily remove guns from a person deemed to be a danger to themselves or others. 

…

In the Wisconsin Legislature, which is led by Republicans in both bodies, Senate Democratic Leader Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton, wants many of the same provisions Baldwin outlined.

“Some things I think we all agree on is that dangerous individuals should not have access to dangerous weapons. So, the policies that we’ve been fighting for for years, we’re going to continue to try to achieve those goals,” Hesselbein told the Cap Times. “We are not trying to remove weapons from law-abiding citizens. That is not what we’re all about. We’re just trying to make Wisconsin and our community safer.”

However, as noted, Republicans control both chambers of the state legislature and it doesn’t seem like any of them are tripping over themselves to embrace gun control.

And honestly, why would it?

Look at what Baldwin wanted, for a moment. Universal background checks are popular with the anti-gun crowd, but there’s no way someone sold the killer her handguns with the belief they were carrying out a lawful sale. As for red flag laws, while we now know all kinds of things showing this wasn’t some spur-of-the-moment decision, there also doesn’t seem to be any indication that anyone in her life thought she was about to go on a shooting rampage.

If they didn’t have that, what makes anyone think a red flag law would have done any good?

Especially as she couldn’t lawfully own guns anyway at the ripe old age of 15.

The premise of the above-linked piece is that Republicans will resist new gun control laws, which is true and those Republicans should resist these measures. However, not a single media outlet ever seems interested in noting how little those measures have to do with the shooting that supposedly prompted them.

Then again, there’s a reason why no one on this side of the debate trusts the mainstream media. Just look at the hack job 60 Minutes did over the weekend.