By Alan Gottlieb and Dave Workman
The horrific tragedy in Christchurch, New Zealand gave the world yet another glimpse of how depraved some people can become when driven by hate, and in the aftermath of that despicable act, Americans watched as this country’s Democrat leaders revealed their true disregard for the rights of tens of millions of law-abiding gun owners.
In a watershed moment of unintentional candor, Senator Bernie Sanders, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and former presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton tweeted support for the swift, and arbitrary decision by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to ban all so-called “military style semiautomatic weapons.” All three think this extremist move to penalize, and possibly criminalize, more than a million New Zealanders for something they didn’t do is an idea that this country should try.
Worse still, not a single Democrat in Congress, and none of the Democrats now running for president have disavowed those sentiments, while reminding their constituents that our Constitution would not allow such parliamentary tyranny. There was not a single affirmative reference to the Second Amendment. Nobody in the media has raised this issue, signaling an alarming complicity of philosophy.
By their silence, the entire national Democratic Party, and especially those Democrats hoping to replace Donald Trump in 2020, have erased any doubt that they have graduated from being the “party of gun control” to being the “party of gun confiscation.”
Earlier platitudes about how “nobody wants to take your guns” now have less credibility than the promise that if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. Their endorsement of gun prohibition and confiscation amplifies the belief that if Democrats ever again achieve complete control of Congress and state legislatures, they would erase the Second Amendment in a heartbeat.
Clinton’s literal endorsement of the New Zealand gun ban provided all the evidence necessary to explain why gun owners turned out in key states to prevent her victory.
Ocasio-Cortez’ gushing tribute to Ardern’s “leadership” in disarming her countrymen was disappointing, but hardly surprising.
And Sanders’ suggestion that, “We must follow New Zealand’s lead, take on the NRA and ban the sale and distribution of assault weapons in the United States,” should be enough to disqualify him from ever seeking higher office, and just might cost him the one he now occupies.
With many Democrats now calling for abolition of the Electoral College, the nation should realize that they’re not interested in anything but power. They forget that the United States is a Constitutional Republic, where the rights of the minority cannot be crushed by the tyranny of the majority.
The party that once stood for the little guy now wants to step on his or her most precious right. This is no longer the Democratic party of your parents or grandparents; not a party of the people, but a party that obviously fears the people.
The attack in Christchurch was a tragedy of monumental proportion. But there is another tragedy right here in the USA, when one political party demonstrates its willingness to dismantle one-tenth of the Bill of Rights and treat millions of law-abiding citizens – their fellow Americans – like criminals.
It is too late, now, for any leading Democrat to suddenly profess loyalty to the Second Amendment. It would be like a bank robber promising that the next heist is his last.
Alan Gottlieb is founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation. Dave Workman is senior editor of TheGunMag.com