Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Carson, California isn’t a big place, but it’s located right smack dab in the middle of the most liberal part of California. As such, their mayor’s recent plan to essentially ban guns in the city sure could look like a slam dunk for those of us not there. At least, it would be a slam dunk until the courts got involved, at which point it was likely to be smacked down and smacked down hard.
Well, it seems we didn’t have to wait for the courts.
The Carson City Council this week deadlocked in an attempt by Mayor Al Robles to pass a gun-control ordinance that would have effectively ended all firearm sales in the city.
With Councilwoman Lula Davis-Holmes absent and gun-rights advocates assailing the proposal as an erosion of their constitutional rights, the ordinance stalled 2-2 late Tuesday, Sept. 17, after two hours of heated public discussion.
Robles pitched the ordinance because of what he called the recent “epidemic” of mass shootings across the nation. The move sparked a reaction on social media that the mayor called “crazy” and prompted about a dozen Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies to be on watch inside Council Chambers.
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“I urge you to reconsider,” Jack Brandhorst, owner of “boutique” gun dealer Red Rifle Limited, told the panel as he fought back tears. “This would shut down my business.”
Gun-rights advocates also threatened legal action.
Robles continued trying to claim that his proposal wasn’t a restriction on people’s civil liberties. I don’t think many people actually bought that nonsense.
With the measure stalled at 2-2, it was an important defeat in an anti-gun region where such measures usually have little trouble garnering support.
However, this effort still should worry gun rights advocates not just in Carson but throughout the nation.
As I’ve argued before, gun control is like a virus. It’s introduced in one place and then begins to spread throughout the entire system, infecting other communities and spreading even further. It doesn’t even require the proposal to be successful for it to be spread far and wide. It only has to look like a chance of working.
Frankly, this is one of those proposals that I can definitely see infecting other cities all over the country despite it being stopped.
There’s also a chance that this measure will come back up in Carson.
However, if Robles really wanted to combat gun violence, maybe he can start by looking at why people engage in such violence, such as being involved in gang activity. Fight that, you fight all forms of violence.
But Robles probably doesn’t actually care about that. What he cares more about is signaling his opposition to guns, probably as a way to advance his political career. Of course, that’s just my opinion, but one based on following countless politicians throughout the years. Who knows, though? Maybe Robles is sincere and really thinks this will somehow stop shootings.
Of course, if that’s the case then people in Carson have a bigger issue. It means they’ve elected the biggest idiot since Beto O’Rourke.
Tom Knighton is a Navy veteran, a former newspaperman, a novelist, and a blogger and lifetime shooter. He lives with his family in Southwest Georgia. https://bearingarms.com/author/tomknighton/