By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
As Democrat-run legislatures continue passing increasingly restrictive gun control laws, a not-so-surprising result is being noticed more by the establishment media.
More people are buying guns, and according to CNN, women and people of color are often at the front of the line. The network noted over the weekend, “The heightened interest in guns comes amid a horrific spate of mass shootings and – according to the CDC’s most recent figures – firearm fatalities that outnumbered motor vehicle traffic deaths 48,830 to 45,404. Over the last two weeks, four people were shot – one fatally – in upstate New York, Kansas City and Texas after accidentally going to the wrong address or opening the wrong door.”
The CNN report also recalled how the surge of gun buying goes back to the pandemic when the number of background checks surged from 30 to 40 million.
Perhaps amusing to some, Vice is reporting that liberals in Washington State are now alarmed that Democrat Gov. Jay Inslee is on the verge of signing legislation to ban so-called “assault weapons.” According to Vice News, “But some Washington residents told VICE News that they’re worried the ban creates a situation where ‘traditional’ gun owners—white, male conservatives—are sitting on an arsenal of high-powered weapons, which emerging demographics of gun owners, like LGBTQ people, leftists and minorities, no longer have access to.”
There is no small degree of irony, since the people to whom Vice News referred are traditional Democrat voters who undoubtedly helped propel anti-gun Democrats into state office, including Inslee, now in his third term.
Washington’s legislative session has adjourned, and several groups are preparing to file lawsuits challenging the gun ban immediately when Inslee signs it into law, because of its emergency status, making it effective the moment it is signed.
CNN’s story focused on residents of Long Island, N.Y. Democrats in Albany doubled down on their gun control agenda after the U.S. Supreme Court last year declared the state’s restrictive concealed carry law unconstitutional. Rather than try to accommodate the new ruling, critics say, anti-gun lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul tried to get creative by passing statutes that no longer require a “good cause” to apply for a permit, but now make it tougher for people to carry in public by creating so-called “sensitive zones” where guns are not allowed, even if they had previously been allowed.
Several lawsuits have been filed challenging the new statutes.
Gun control legislation has one guaranteed reaction: Stronger gun sales. As noted by CNN, “One in five US households bought a gun from March 2020 to March 2022, according to NORC at the University of Chicago, a nonpartisan research institution. One in 20 Americans purchased a gun for the first time during that period.”
In the weeks leading up to passage of a ban on so-called “assault weapons” in Washington state, there has been a rush on gun stores all over the map. Once people are told they will no longer be able to buy something—especially a firearm—they will immediately try to beat a deadline and make a purchase.
Researchers seem sometimes perplexed that women and minorities are among the top gun store customers, but those two groups have just as much right to own a firearm as anyone.
One other fact emerged from the Vice News coverage that will not make Washington state anti-gunners happy. According to the Vice story, “the state has the highest level of household gun ownership compared to other states with similar assault weapon bans on the books.”
“California, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York,” the story noted, “all had significantly lower rates of gun ownership by comparison when they passed their own versions between 1990 and 2000. As did Delaware and Illinois when they passed their own assault weapon bans in the last year.”
