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With a Biden election victory, the United States is moving closer to tighter gun control; indeed, if the Democrats were to win the Senate seats in Georgia, arms control could become a reality, especially if Vice President Kamala Harris were to break a tie in Parliament.
Fears of greater controls by a Joe Biden administration drove gun sales during the election campaign; this is because a Democratic victory would open the door to a bill that would limit access to weapons.
Biden’s plan as President of the United States is to implement a law banning assault weapons, a situation that contradicts the theory that the more legal guns there are, the less violent crime there will be.
The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, dating from 1791, enshrines the right to possess weapons; however, Biden’s public program states that he will seek to repeal the “Lawful Arms Trade Protection Act” so that manufacturers will be held accountable. It also states that it will take “weapons of war off the streets” and “prohibit the manufacture and sale of assault weapons and high-capacity cartridges”.
“Biden will use his executive authority to ban the import of assault weapons,” according to his action plan. The Democrat has already said that gun manufacturers are “the enemy” of Democratic Party-led gun control efforts; instead of demonizing criminals, he criminalizes manufacturers.
According to Mark Oliva, director of public affairs for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade group that tracks and analyzes gun sales, sales in 2020 reached a record high before election day.
Oliva says that October gun sales increased by 60% compared to the same month last year, and claims that more than 17 million guns were sold during the first 10 months of 2020.
Figures in the US already showed in 2019 that the more legal guns there are, the less violent crimes are recorded. Official data indicated that violent crimes fell 48.6% in the country, in the same period that the record number of arms purchases was registered.
Arms, right to property
Recent events also show how the possession of legal weapons not only inhibits violent crimes but also allows for the defense of private property and even family members. In June of this year, a video went viral where two older adults were defending their home from violent break-ins just by carrying guns in plain sight.
At that time, “Black Lives Matter” protesters broke into a private neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri, but were stopped by Mark and Patricia McCloskey who were only defending their property from the threat of violent attacks.
Another recent event that raises controversy about the carrying of weapons, arose on Monday, November 23, when Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert asked the Capitol Police for permission to carry her weapon on the congressional premises.
“Our constitutional right to bear arms exists even in places that reject this fundamental principle,” the woman responded in social networks to a New York Post publication.
The congresswoman has been described by President Donald Trump as “a fighter” who “will never kneel before the establishment in Congress.
Likewise, Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene also said she supported Boebert’s right to carry his gun in Congress: “I not only support members of Congress carrying a gun, but I believe all Americans have that right,” Greene said in a statement.
Juan Carlos Hidalgo, an analyst at the Cato Institute, has pointed out that “there is no empirical evidence that more controls on the carrying of arms would lead to a reduction in crime. He further noted that “the right to bear arms is a right inherent in the right to life. If I have a right to life, I have a right to protect my life.
Americans will need to be vigilant about Biden’s policies on the carrying of weapons, and above all, they will need to monitor initiatives in the Senate if the Democratic Party win a majority in Parliament.
Remember the warning given by Donald Trump in January of this year at a mass protest against gun restrictions: “The Democratic Party in the great commonwealth (territory) of Virginia is working hard to eliminate Second Amendment rights. This is only the beginning. Don’t let it happen, VOTE REPUBLIC IN 2020!
Sabrina Martín Rondon is a Venezuelan journalist. Her source is politics and economics. She is a specialist in corporate communications and is committed to the task of dismantling the supposed benefits of socialism // Sabrina Martín Rondon es periodista venezolana. Su fuente es la política y economía. Es especialista en comunicaciones corporativas y se ha comprometido con la tarea de desmontar las supuestas bondades del socialismo