In the weeks since the Uvalde school massacre, Democrats have repeatedly pushed for more gun control, even though most of their proposals have no chance of becoming law. The Democrat-led House passed a bill to raise the legal age for purchasing certain weapons to 21, and ban high-capacity magazines. President Biden even called for reinstating the federal assault weapons ban that was in place from 1994 to 2004.
But these actions were little more than political posturing. The House bill passed narrowly along party lines, with no chance to advance in the evenly divided Senate where it would need 60 votes to make it to the floor. As for Biden's proposal to bring back an assault weapons ban, it might earn him some brownie points with the left, but even most Democrats know that's a complete non-starter.
What did emerge from the Senate was a bipartisan compromise legislative package that includes enhanced background checks for gun purchasers under 21 and support for state-level red flag laws. But even that bill is already being met with criticism from many Republicans, who see it as a cave to Democrats who want to open the door to more gun grabs. John Lott Jr., president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, says these proposals are missing the point. "Our numbers show 96 percent of mass shootings keep occurring in places where civilians are banned from having guns," he tells KTRH. "These killers may be crazy in some sense, but they're not stupid."
"You don't need to take my word for it," he continues. "Read the manifesto of the Buffalo shooter, or read the diaries for many of the other killers."
Lott believes the focus should be on better security and more defensive weapons on campus. "Out of thousands of schools, not one single school where they've had armed teachers and staff has had an attack where anybody's been wounded or killed," he says.
As for assault weapons bans and red flag laws, Lott points to the recent mass supermarket shooting in Buffalo, New York. "New York has an assault weapons ban that's stricter than the original federal one---and the guy got the gun in New York," he says. "New York has red flag laws, they have background checks on the private transfer of guns, they have everything Democrats have talked about and more."