Pirate's Cove

People who are surrounded by armed security all during their working hours, and some afterwards, look to make it harder for citizens to protect themselves

Dems to reframe gun violence as public health issue

House Democrats are planning to vote next year on bills that address gun violence as a public health concern, marking the party’s first steps back into a divisive debate after being in the minority for eight years.

Energized by their midterm victories and a focus on gunshot victims highlighted by a growing chorus of medical professionals, Democrats say they will push for legislation to fund research on gun injuries and deaths.

Making gun violence a public health issue is seen as unlikely to cause divisions between liberal and centrist Democrats, some of whom are wary about moving too far to the left ahead of their 2020 reelection bids.

But with a divided Congress starting in January, Democratic leaders will have to tamp down expectations for achieving gun-related legislative goals of any kind since their bills will be landing in a GOP-led Senate.

Hey, you know what? I think we should investigate why shootings happen. They can start by looking at FBI data, which will show who shoots whom over what. And it won’t be pretty. They will not like the racial components nor the number of shootings in Democrat run areas and gun free zones.

At a recent press conference, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) said the incoming Democratic majority offers new possibilities.

“We have an opportunity to pass background checks for every firearm purchase,” said Swalwell, a progressive who is openly considering a 2020 presidential bid. “We have an opportunity to finally study gun violence in America to see what we can do.”

As I’ve written, I’m OK with expanding background checks to include all private purchases and transfers. I’m OK with requiring a new background check anytime a firearm is purchased within a month of the previous purchase, because things can change. But what Democrats want to do is make it much, much harder for citizens to purchase, rather than fixing the system which often allows people to be approved because the requisite background material is not making it into the database.

Long-standing restrictions have effectively prevented the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from conducting any kind of gun violence protection research. The so-called Dickey amendment, inserted into a 1996 government funding bill by the late Rep. Jay Dickey (R-Ark.), has been renewed in subsequent years.

The provision states: “None of the funds made available in this title may be used, in whole or in part, to advocate or promote gun control.”

Although the provision doesn’t explicitly ban research into gun violence, public health advocates and Democrats say there’s been a chilling effect in place for more than 20 years that’s proven difficult to overcome.

In other words, they aren’t interested in doing the research with their own money, despite telling us How Important This Is.

Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), head of the party’s task force to prevent gun violence, said the results of the November midterms speak to a need to act on gun reforms.

Thompson sponsored a background check bill this year and in 2016, and will likely take the lead on it next year.

“There’s a new majority in the House of Representatives, and we will pass gun violence prevention legislation that will make our communities safer, that will respect the 2nd Amendment and that every American can be proud of,” Thompson said recently.

This is a common refrain from Democrats, and they will over-reach on it in the House. The legislation will go nowhere in the Senate. But we’ll get a good idea what the Dems real agenda is, gun grabbing, as they are blocked more and more.