Schumer: ‘There Is New Hope’ On Gun Control

Chuck Schumer

by Tom Knighton: One thing I’ve been saying since the midterms is that I’m not overly concerned about losing the House because the GOP retained the Senate. More than that, though, they gained ground.

As the Republican Party is far more likely to side with Second Amendment advocates than their counterparts, this means our guns aren’t at risk anymore.

However, it seems that Sen. Chuck Schumer disagrees with me.In the wake of the most recent mass shooting at a California bar, and now that the Democrats are set to control the House, Sen. Chuck Schumer says there’s a better chance something might get done on gun control.

... “There is new hope with a new Congress that we can pass some good laws for gun safety,” Schumer said at a press conference Sunday.

If the Democratic House can pass something, GOP senators on the fence may now be persuaded.

What would be first? An expansion of mandatory background checks, Schumer says.

“If you’re a law-abiding citizen, you get the gun. If you’re a felon; if you’re a spousal abuser; if you’re adjudicated mentally ill, you don’t.”Of course, the article touts the bogus claim that there have been over 300 mass shootings this year, but more importantly, it claims that Republicans may side with Democrats on universal background checks.

Now, maybe Schumer knows something I don’t.

However, I can’t help but think that any Republican who crossed the aisle on guns is someone who needs to start making their retirement plans right away. After all, I can all but promise they won’t be re-elected if they do.

It’s different if the Democrats are willing to make some kind of deal, where universal background checks get passed in exchange for something else, but in this current political climate, I don’t see that happening. Especially since Republicans aren’t likely to throw guns, of all things, under the bus without getting a whole lot in return.

And more importantly, I think Schumer knows it. He knows that unless the Democrats start acting a whole lot more reasonable, there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell of almost anything the House passes to make it through the Senate, much less gun control. As it stands now, even Republicans who might be OK with universal background checks won’t vote for it because they refuse to give Democrats the satisfaction.

While that’s an awful way to govern, it’s a good way to keep our rights intact, so I’ll take it.

Gun control may not be the third rail for Democrats it used to be, but that doesn’t mean it’s still a winning issue for them. If they keep pushing on this, they’ll find out the hard way that those numbers were soft when they were reported. Especially as more and more people recognize that even universal background checks won’t accomplish anything over the long term.

For now, though, we just need the GOP to hold strong and keep their ranks in check. The last thing we need right now is for the Democrats to dictate the conversation on guns, especially since they tend to be so wrong on the subject.
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Tom Knighton is a Navy veteran, a former newspaperman, a novelist, and a blogger at Bearing Arms. He lives with his family in Southwest Georgia.

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