Don’t you feel safer already?
The White House touted the move as a way to get around “congressional inaction” in the face of rising violence. Many in Congress are perfectly willing to act to stem the criminal tide, just not in the way that the administration prefers.
What this White House desires, as it spelled out in the announcement of the gun control office, is “executive and legislative action” to address violence. But real-world solutions are not on the table, and this group is merely window dressing and posturing for the 2024 election cycle.
Upon closer inspection, perhaps it is not so surprising that Harris was tapped as the top pick to lead the new office. After all, back in March 2021 she was drafted to seek out the “root causes” of illegal immigration.
If the results of that effort are any indication, the U.S. crime problem is going to get drastically worse.
And how serious is this move by the administration considering it comes nearly three years into the Biden presidency?
Some facts are clear. Harris accomplished nothing in her role as “border czar,” and there is no reason to expect her new title of “gun control czar” will be any different. The U.S. is a nation of laws, bound by the Constitution under the judgment of the Supreme Court.
Until the Second Amendment is completely neutered by anti-gun extremists, there may not be a lot of true damage that can be wrought by Harris and her new office in states that respect gun rights.
It’s not that they won’t try.
Some states will fall in line with whatever Harris and her cronies are selling. These are the same ones that thus far have scoffed at last year’s Bruen decision by the U.S. Supreme Court and enacted expansive areas where guns are not allowed.
California, New York and Illinois quickly come to mind. But it doesn’t take a new federal office to spur these locales to strip gun rights away from their residents.
There is no doubt that the office will be staffed with luminaries from various gun control organizations. Don’t look for equal representation for the weapons industry or legal advocates of Second Amendment rights. That just will not happen.
With 2024 being an election year, the vice president will soon be spending much time on the campaign trail stumping for her ticket. That will leave her cabal of gun rights opponents free to meddle in the nation’s affairs under the guise of violence prevention.
The reality is measures touted as such do little if anything to address gun violence. They create artificial “sensitive places” in which only law-abiding citizens will respect the edicts and leave their weapons at home. These radicals establish waiting periods that only the good people follow and enact background checks that criminals are not subjected to.
The net result is that some people get to feel good about themselves while violent crime continues to soar.
Gun rights supporters currently control one branch of Congress and nominally the Supreme Court. This should work as a check for whatever action the gun control office attempts to implement.
Still, its creation is a clear victory for the anti-gun crowd. There will be political pressure on the federal office to do “something” about violence, and unquestionably that something will not favor gun rights.
What is certain is that the national divide on gun rights will only get deeper. States that do not respect the Second Amendment will feel empowered, and those that do will double down and resist federal pressure to infringe on constitutional rights.
It is also certain that the time for gun rights advocacy is now. These organizations are doing yeoman’s work keeping the anti-gun zealots at bay, and the new White House office means there is more work to be done.
