The Florida school shootings have led to a youth uprising against assault rifles like the Ar-15. Calls for gun control in the wake of mass shootings at Columbine High School, Sandy Hook Elementary School and in Las Vegas all faded away, but this time it seems different. Once you get high schoolers energized on a cause designed to protect them from gun violence, their fervor will not fade away for months to come. And don’t think that parents aren’t listening.
The students are mobilizing a ‘March For Our Lives’ rally in Washington on March 24. This march will be well funded. George Clooney and his wife have pledged $500,000 to support the march and Oprah said she will match that. Other celebrities are sure to follow suit. And look for George Soros to toss in a substantial amount from his billions.
Soros will also outspend the NRA by pouring millions of dollars into the campaigns of congressional candidates that favor strict gun controls. Those scoffing at the calls for gun control better think twice. The Florida school shooting is a game changer.
President Trump says he now favors expanded background checks and he has ordered the Justice Department to outlaw bump stocks like those used by the Las Vegas shooter. Several Republican congressmen have said they would now support an assault weapons ban. Of course, if the Democrats had their way, they would ban civilian ownership of all firearms.
We should remember that Congress has once before passed an ‘assault weapons ban’ law which prohibited the sales of semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15. That law became effective in 1994, but it expired in 2004. It is quite possible that like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Congress will pass a similar assault weapons ban in 2019 with bipartisan support. And if that bipartisan support is strong, President Trump is unlikely to exercise his veto.
So if you want an AR-15, you better buy it by the end of the year.
The AR-15 is the most popular rifle in the U.S. Congress is not likely to enact a total ban on assault weapons. That would make instant criminals out of more than 5 million law abiding citizens because sure as shit, they are not going to turn in their beloved AR-15s and AK-47s. Paraphrasing the late Charlton Heston: “I’ll give you my AR-15 when you take it from my cold, dead hands”
Will a ban on the sales of assault rifles prevent future school shootings? Of course not! Such a ban would only serve as feel-good legislation. How many of those more than 5 million AR-15 gun owners are nut jobs, or will become nut jobs, and decide to take out a bunch of school children? Only God knows the answer.