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An Inconvenient Truth About Gun Control: We Need Bipartisanship
2020/2021 were record years for gun sales, and it wasn’t just Republicans buying guns.
When Democratic Party Presidential candidate Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke stood on stage and delivered his immortal line, “Hell, yes we are going to take your AR-15, your AK-47!” all of liberal Twitter roared its approval.
Universally lauded on the left, O’Rourke rode his memorable promise all the way to…nowhere. Here was a candidate who candidly backed a mandatory gun buyback program; why didn’t progressive voters rally behind him in the primary?
Where the rubber met the road on gun control, even in the halcyon pre-Covid days of 2019, many elected officials in the Democratic Party were too reluctant to stake out such an unpopular position.
Not only did his “Hell, yes!” line probably cost Beto the nomination, it also netted him the dubious benefit of being named NRA gun salesperson of the year. So many people rushed out to buy guns, faced with the remotest possibility they might not be able to, Beto inadvertently caused more of what he promised to prevent.
Then, of course, Covid19 happened and everything changed. Things were shut down, there were shortages, it was scary, especially at first, and Americans bought guns- in record numbers. First time…