No matter how much Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) goes to the right side to oppose the Build Back Better (BBB) bill, he is still a Democrat at heart. A lot of his policies and ways of thinking are rooted deeply in the leftist beliefs and they can still count on him to provide them with his full support on key issues like gun control. So, when the white supremacist shooting happened in Buffalo on May 14th, it was no surprise that he jumped on it.
Since 2012, he has been pushing for the passage of the Manchin-Toomey gun control package. According to The Hill Manchin is incredibly upset that there is still nothing being done with his package. “We can’t even get Manchin-Toomey, which didn’t violate anyone’s rights. It just said there should not be a commercial transaction unless there’s a background check…It’s the most, I think it’s the most agreed upon, it’s the most accepted in the country and we can’t even get that done.”
The package was first introduced on December 14, 2012, attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School. It included multiple gun controls, with the backbone of the entire package being based on expanded background checks. However, the bill failed at that time, largely because these checks would not have prevented that shooting. The weapons used were stolen earlier in the day after the deranged killer shot and killed his own mother.
Manchin appeared on Face the Nation on April 14th, 2013, where he was forced to admit that the Newtown families had informed him that his package would not have done anything to prevent the shooting. Much the same, the package would have done nothing to prevent this attack as the gun was purchased legally with background checks in a gun store. This kind of information seems to go over his head, as well as many other Democrats when these kinds of incidents occur.
Overreacting to national tragedies to get their agenda pushed is the cornerstone of politics for the left. They prey on people’s emotions of guilt, and sorrow, and use the families of victims to get the American people to support their missions. When emotions are running full force forwards, the people are thinking with their hearts and not their heads. Granted, even when the emotions aren’t running at full force the anti-gun crowd tries to push their narrative about guns being the wrong thing for Americans to have.
Comprehending safety through controls is something they just do not understand. As the manifesto from the Buffalo shooter explains, gun-free zones do not work. There isn’t a criminal who sees the sign and rethinks their crime. All it does is force law-abiding people to leave their firearms at home or locked up in the car. This means they are sitting ducks for those wishing to do evil. Criminals know this and will purposely target these areas.
The same goes for cities that have incredibly tight gun control. In these cities, the probability of someone shooting back when laws and rules say they aren’t supposed to be armed goes down by a sharp amount. So it’s no surprise to see places like LA, San Francisco, NYC, and Chicago ranking high on the list of cities with gun problems. Buffalo is another Democrat-controlled city, and the state has put shackles on its people, making everyone a target.
With Sen. Manchin overreacting about this tragedy, he isn’t looking at this through the right optics. Much like a bully only understands someone standing up to them, the best way to decrease gun crimes is by allowing people to carry their legally purchased firearms. If criminals are going to be carrying anyway, why shouldn’t the rest of us have a level playing field?