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Image Source: AP Images/Bill Clark
September 10, 2024
Sen. Warnock’s Accusations Against the Firearm Industry are Beyond Loathsome
One learns to grow a thick skin when dealing in the world of politics. That’s especially true representing the firearm industry on Capitol Hill and in statehouses across the country. The firearm and ammunition industry is faced with the most hostile presidential administration ever. Vice President Harris oversees The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention created by the Biden administration with the goal of reducing – and ultimately eliminating – Second Amendment rights by attacking the firearm industry through a whole-of-government approach.
Even with that, the comments made by U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) in the wake of a horrific and reprehensible attack by a mentally disturbed teen at a school are loathsome. The senator, who is also an ordained minister, told NBC’s Meet the Press, “The problem is that we have politicians in our country who are beholden to the gun lobby. And either based on ambition or fear, they go to work every day doing their bidding while the gun lobby lines its pockets with the blood of our children.”
The remarks are disgusting and reprehensible. If the senator was looking for shock value, he got a cheap 15 minutes. While he spews invectives on Sunday morning talk shows, he purposefully ignores glaring facts that don’t suit his antigun narrative. Primarily, he ignores that the firearm and ammunition industry has been pursuing Real Solutions. Safer Communities.® for over a quarter century while he casts a blind eye to the failures of government to fulfill their duties and the actions of the suspected murderer’s father to irresponsibly – and potentially criminally – provide a firearm to his son who he knew was mentally unstable.
Wrong Sermon, Wrong Choir
Sen. Warnock has been a vocal supporter of gun control since he first announced his bid for office in 2020. He’s been bankrolled by billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety, and Giffords. That makes sense when he’s heard repeating misleading and false narratives both gun control groups use to malign lawful firearm ownership. Sen. Warnock calls the AR-15 – a Modern Sporting Rifle (MSR) – a “military-style weapon” and demands every sort of gun control measure that satisfies his donor base, but which would have not prevented this senseless and horrific crime.
Sen. Warnock ignored the essential facts that surrounded this disturbed and murderous teen. He ignored that the murderer had previously been investigated by the FBI for threatening to murder school children over one year before he committed his violent crimes. Sen. Warnock ignored that the murderer’s father irresponsibly – and possibly criminally – gave his son a firearm as a Christmas gift knowing he threatened to commit murders at a school and displayed criminal and violent tendencies. He ignored the fact that armed School Resources Officers stopped the murderer before he was able to take more innocent lives. While the investigation continues, it seems the father did not responsibly store the firearm. News reports of the family’s 2022 eviction indicate firearms and ammunition were piled up outside the rented house suggesting they were not securely stored. Sen. Warnock also ignores the mother’s desperate call to the school that morning warning them that her son was dangerous.
Sen. Warnock said in his interview, “There is no one single law that will stop all of these tragedies.”
He’s misleading again. That’s a half-truth. That’s because there are multiple laws. There are laws against providing criminals and mentally disturbed individuals access to firearms. That’s why the murderer’s father was arrested. There are laws against bringing firearms on school property. There are laws against murder.
Sen. Warnock smears the firearm industry before an agreeable Sunday morning talk show host while the firearm industry has been deeply-involved in making firearms inaccessible to those who cannot be trusted with them – including mentally-disturbed and criminally-violent individuals.
Real Solutions. Safer Communities.®
It was the firearm industry that originally conceived of the instant background check system that verifies that every person purchasing a firearm at retail is verified by the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to let firearm retailers know the person purchasing a firearm isn’t prohibited from doing so. It was the firearm industry that has been voluntarily providing free locking devices in firearms shipped from the factories so firearms are inaccessible to those who shouldn’t possess them. The rifle purchased by this grossly irresponsible father came equipped with a lock. It is the firearm industry that created Project ChildSafe®, which has distributed over 41 million free firearm safety kits with those same locking devices to 15,000 law enforcement agencies in all 50 states and five U.S. territories free to the public. Local law enforcement agencies, including police in Winder, Ga., as well as Barrow County and Jackson County sheriffs, were all previous Project ChildSafe partners.
It is the firearm industry that championed Fix NICS®, which advocates for all states to send all disqualifying records to the FBI so the background check system works as intended. That resulted in the FIX NICS Act being passed and signed into law with broad bipartisan support.
It is the firearm industry that is the leading voice that promotes safe firearm storage for every firearm that is not in use, whether that be using locking devices, rapid-access safes or traditional upright safes. It is the firearm industry that partners with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense to reduce suicides and access to lethal means for those suffering suicidal ideations. It is the firearm industry that partners with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to prevent straw purchases of firearms through the “Don’t Lie for the Other GuyTM” program. It is the firearm industry that created Operation Secure Store® in partnership with ATF to assist firearm retailers to improve security to prevent smash-and-grab burglaries and robberies. It is the firearm industry that matches ATF reward offers for information leading the recovery of stolen firearms and arrests of those criminals responsible for those crimes.
Sen. Warnock said there is no single gun law that could have prevented it. There are multiple laws. There are also multiple efforts by the firearm and ammunition industry to prevent these tragedies. There are Real Solutions.
The only answer Sen. Warnock is interested in is the one that takes away rights from those who obey the law because criminals don’t respect the law or the lives of innocent Americans. That’s the wrong sermon. He’d rather look at the speck in someone else’s eye than take the plank out of his own.
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