KAMALA HARRIS' STATE - PEOPLE ARE ARMING THEMSELVES FOR THE WORSE

 

Study: 110,000 Californians Bought Guns During Pandemic; Fear of ‘Lawlessness’ Most Common Reason

Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press

JOEL B. POLLAK

18 Oct 2020518

4:47

A new study reveals that 110,000 Californians bought guns during the coronavirus pandemic, 43% for the first time — and the most common reason given was fear of “lawlessness.”

The study, carried out by the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California Davis, casts firearm purchases as a response to the “pandemic,” and concludes that COVID-19 “exacerbated persistent structural, economic, and social inequities in the conditions that contribute to violence and its consequences.”

The study reveals that 43% of the people who purchased firearms during the pandemic were first-time gun owners. The authors conclude that this reflects underlying inequalities in society — that “the coronavirus pandemic and efforts to lessen its spread have compounded the burden of violence-related harms.”

However, the authors appear to overlook another explanation — namely, the fact that violent riots were going on in California and the rest of the country during the period in which its online survey of 2,870 adults was taking place, July 14 to 27.

In the months since the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota, 48 of America’s largest 50 cities have been affected by riots.

The study found:

The most common reason given for firearm acquisition in response to the pandemic was worry about lawlessness (75.9%; 95% CI: 27.6-96.3), followed by worry about prisoner releases (56.1; 95% CI: 22.0-85.3), the government going too far (49.2%; 95% CI: 17.7-81.3), government collapse (38.0%; 95% CI: 12.2-73.0), and gun stores closing (31.1%; 95% CI: 9.7- 65.4) … Reasons for ammunition purchases in response to the pandemic were similar.

The study does not mention riots. It does, however, mention “protests for racial justice and police accountability,” blaming police and “white supremacists” for any violence:

Recent, largely peaceful, protests decrying structural inequities, which simultaneously allow police violence and the uneven burden of disease to persist, have been met, at times, by law enforcement use of crowd-control weapons and heavily armed white supremacist and far-right vigilantes.

The study also found that the only category of violence that respondents were not worried about increasing was mass shootings — the type of event that has spurred public debate about gun control.

People wait in a line to enter a gun store in Culver City, Calif., Sunday, March 15, 2020. Coronavirus concerns have led to consumer panic buying of grocery staples and now gun stores are seeing a run on weapons and ammunition as panic intensifies. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)

As the Los Angeles Times notes in its coverage of the study, one of its main concerns is the danger to public safety posed by new gun purchases, especially given that many new gun owners appear to be storing their weapons loaded and ready, rather than unloaded and locked away.

The Times notes:

Drawing a link between firearms and an infectious disease pandemic may seem like a stretch. But the UC Davis researchers make clear that, against the backdrop of a national emergency, each trend observed — an increase in the number of guns in circulation, the establishment of new gun-owning households and the relaxation of many households’ safe-storage practices — is likely to boost the risk of gun-related accidents, suicides and violence. Their cumulative effect could be hard to predict.

Former Vice President is pledging to end the “gun violence pandemic,” and his platform calls for funding for research on gun violence to be conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). President Donald Trump has stressed Second Amendment rights in his re-election campaign.

California’s firearms laws are among the most restrictive in the nation.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His newest e-book is The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

Joe Biden’s Gun Agenda Could Cost AR-15 Owners $3.6 Billion in Taxes for Guns They Already Own

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

AWR HAWKINS

17 Oct 20208,278

4:54

Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden’s proposed gun control policy includes a provision that could require every AR-15 rifle be registered under the National Firearms Act of 1934. Unless there were some form of carve-out, this could mandate that American gun owners pay a $200 federal tax per AR-15 that they own. The National Rifle Association’s Andrew Arulanandam told Breitbart News that the current “low end” estimate of privately-owned AR-15s in the United States is 18 million. A tax of $200 on 18 million AR-15s means that gun owners could potentially be required to a pay a collective $3.6 billion in taxes, if this policy were enacted into legislation.

That figure does not even consider other guns that might be deemed “assault weapons” by Democrats, which could also fall under the same provisions of the National Firearms Act.

In addition to the $200 tax, owners of guns that are deemed “assault weapons,” under Biden’s view of the NFA, could also be required to register these weapons with federal authorities, submit their finger prints and photograph, and potentially submit to an FBI background check.

All of this is detailed on Biden’s campaign website, which states in bullet-point form (emphasis in original):

Regulate possession of existing assault weapons under the National Firearms Act. Currently, the National Firearms Act requires individuals possessing machine-guns, silencers, and short-barreled rifles to undergo a background check and register those weapons with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Due to these requirements, such weapons are rarely used in crimes. As president, Biden will pursue legislation to regulate possession of existing assault weapons under the National Firearms Act.

The above paragraph on Biden’s website links to a memorandum from former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ Giffords Law Center that calls for the regulation of “assault weapons” under the National Firearms Act (NFA).

The Giffords’ memorandum notes:

The NFA, enacted in 1934, was the first federal regulation of the manufacture and transfer of firearms. Machine guns, short-barreled rifles, and silencers are currently regulated under the NFA. In order to possess NFA firearms, individuals must undergo a background check process that includes the submission of photo identification and fingerprints and requires the registration of the firearm with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Individuals must also pay a $200 transfer tax, an amount that has not changed since the NFA was established in 1934.

The Giffords’ memorandum then calls for the policy that the Biden campaign website also endorses: “Giffords proposes that Congress require all existing assault weapons to be regulated under the National Firearms Act.”

The Giffords’ memorandum specifically defines “assault weapons” to include the AR-15, stating: “Assault weapons are a class of semiautomatic firearms that are designed to kill people quickly and efficiently. The most common variety, the AR-15, is the civilian version of the M16, a combat rifle that made its debut on the battlefield in Vietnam.”

As noted, if lawfully enacted, this policy could encompass “all existing assault weapons.” In practice, this could mean every American who owns a weapon like an AR-15 — or any other gun deemed by Democrats to be an “assault weapon” — could be required to submit their fingerprints and photograph, undergo an FBI background check, register these weapons with the ATF, and pay the federal government a $200 tax for each weapon.

In a recent interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked Biden, “So, to gun owners out there who say, well, a Biden administration means they’re going to come for guns?” Biden responded Biden responded, “Bingo. You’re right, if you have an ‘assault weapon.’ The fact of the matter is they should be illegal, period.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.