Over the years, my dad had many wise sayings. One that always stuck
with me was that “all fences do is keep honest people honest.”
This meant that an honorable person with good intentions will respect
the fence and leave the property alone, while a dishonest person up to
no good will simply ignore the fence, rendering it useless.
None of these laws in Maryland stopped a shooting there. And look at Chicago: strongest laws, worst gun violence!
I could not help but be reminded of this life lesson as Gov. Tony
Evers and legislative Democrats turned the recent mass shootings in El
Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, into a political opportunity to prey on
the emotions of Wisconsinites sympathetic to the victims and their
families. They did so by recycling worn-out ideas they knew would have
little chance of preventing similar tragedies in the future.
So why, you might ask, would Democrats propose solutions that they
know would not work? The answer is simple: They are trying to hide their
culpability for the erosion of public safety that we are experiencing
throughout our communities. Why Americans would be idiots to give up their guns. The Founding Fathers knew what they were doing.
We are all moved to tears whenever such tragedies occur, and it is
easy for Democrats to exploit these events to divert attention from the
crime epidemic sweeping the urban centers of our state. Democrats seem
to have plenty to say about mass shootings that occur in the suburbs,
yet they remain silent on rampant inner-city crime. Those proposing
stricter gun laws that would primarily burden law-abiding citizens are
the same people advocating for summarily reducing our prison population
and releasing violent criminals back onto our streets.
Over the past several legislative sessions, Republicans have proposed
numerous bills to keep our citizens safe by cracking down on crime,
stiffening penalties for repeat violent offenders, and requiring
mandatory revocation hearings for convicted criminals who commit new
offenses while out on parole or supervision. Democrats in the
Legislature fought us every step of the way on these reforms.
World-wide, gun ownership and homicide rates are inversely related: the more guns, the fewer homicides.
Sadly, the problem does not lie solely with liberals in state
government. Our criminal justice system, which is composed largely of
Democrats in more populous urban areas, goes out of its way to avoid
holding criminals to account for their crimes by ignoring even the most
clear-cut offenses.
For instance, from 2011 to 2015, while over 3,600 felons were
arrested for illegally possessing a firearm — a felony in its own right —
an investigation by Fox 6 News found that three out of four of these
criminals were never even charged. More recently, two West Allis police
officers were injured while apprehending a felon caught with cocaine,
heroin and marijuana. As it turns out, the suspect already had an
outstanding warrant for bail jumping from a prior arrest, having skipped
out on a $1,500 bond, never showing back up in court, and continuing
his life of crime. Nevertheless, a court commissioner recently and
inexplicably set bail for the new charges at a mere $2,000, teeing the
suspect up for a continuation of his criminal career.
Another old saying about the definition of insanity comes to mind.
When guns are banned, homicides go up. Democrats are ignoring the facts.
Democrats are advocating for greater protections for criminals at the
expense of the rights of law-abiding citizens. Ask yourself who is more
likely to undergo a background check prior to purchasing a gun: a
person who goes through legal channels or one of the 3,600 felons
arrested for possessing a firearm that they already were not allowed to
have? Which one is the real threat to public safety?
The mass shootings that occur are horrific, and we should honestly
consider proposals that will have a meaningful effect and a real
likelihood of averting future tragedies. Unfortunately, an individual
here in Wisconsin has a greater chance of being killed driving through
certain parts of Milwaukee than in a mass shooting. Until Democrats stop
ignoring the crime epidemic destroying our urban neighborhoods and
start treating criminals as criminals rather than victims, I have a hard
time believing they are serious about protecting our citizens.
We can work together to address both issues, but we will make no
progress when tragedies such as these are used as a pretext to target
law-abiding citizens’ rights. Politicians can grandstand through press
conferences and releases advocating for tighter gun controls, but those
tighter controls will merely serve as fences respected only by the
law-abiding and ignored by criminals.
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