Trace Reporter: Only Way to Reduce ‘Gun Violence’ Is Australia-Style Confiscation

Though the gun control lobby claims it’s not opposed to the Second Amendment, and is only looking to implement a few (dozen) “common sense gn safety measures”, every now and then anti-gun activists let their masks slip to reveal their true intentions. 

Take March For Our Lives’ belated response to reports that the DOJ is looking at ways to ban individuals who identify as transgender from legally possessing firearms. 

Here’s an idea: apply this logic to the weapons designed to kill instead of generalizing an entire group of people! https://t.co/Asy0Ern7gQ

— March For Our Lives (@AMarch4OurLives) September 8, 2025

Do you think there are any guns on the market today that March For Our Lives doesn’t believe were “designed to kill”? It’s also awfully ironic for the group to complain about generalizing an entire group of people since that’s what the gun control lobby does with Second Amendment supporters; portraying us as dangerous “gun nuts” who care more about our AR-15s than the lives of children. 

Then there’s reporter Mike Spies of the Bloomberg-funded website The Trace. According to the Miami Herald, Spies recently argued that things like “universal” background checks, waiting periods, and other gun control laws don’t go far enough. 

Spies said, “I do think there’s a lack of knowledge among lawmakers, and I think, like, the same playbook has been in force since background checks were first introduced in the 90s and the ‘assault weapons’ ban. We always go back to those things.” Spies added, “You have to be honest, and say what will actually work, which is what nobody wants to hear, which is that there are just simply way too many firearms, and they are way too accessible.” 

MSNBC anchor Katy Tur argued that most Americans favor legislative action on the matter. Tur said, “The majority of Americans don’t own guns and the majority of Americans want stricter gun laws.”

Spies said, “And they’re too powerful, even handguns too, again, that’s why in Australia … The only thing that really works, if you really wanted to bring down gun violence, was to do what Australia did and to do what many other countries in Europe do.”

And what did Australia do? Lawmakers banned the possession of almost every semi-automatic firearm in the hands of lawful gun owners, requiring them to turn them over in exchange for some cash or face criminal prosecution. Australia has placed strict limitations on possession of handguns as well, requiring citizens to provide good cause to own one… and self-defense isn’t considered a valid reason. 

Ironically, the number of guns in private hands in Australia is now greater than what it was before the compensated confiscation efforts of the mid 1990s, and Austalia’s gun control lobby is still demanding more restrictions and prohibitions. As for violent crime, it was trending down in Australia before the confiscation efforts began, and continued to fall afterwards. 

Spies is also ignoring the fact that violent crime in the United States is currently trending down from the spike that began in 2020. In fact, in many states the violent crime rate is the lowest its been since the early 1960s, while a million or more guns are sold each and every month. 

We don’t need to ban guns to reduce crime. We don’t need to repeal the Second Amendment to make the U.S. a safer place. A large amount of crime is committed by a very small group of repeat offenders. When we focus on them, we can and have seen substantial reductions in violence without impacting lawful gun owners at all. 

The gun control lobby isn’t about reducing crime. As MFOL and Spies have told us, it’s about reducing gun ownership and turning a fundamental right into a privilege doled out by the State to a favored few. 

Editor’s Note: The gun control lobby will stop at nothing to enact their disarmament agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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