When gun control is mentioned in conversation, it always takes a political or ideological turn to blame one side or the other for it or the lack thereof. Democrats have historically led the charge for gun control, and the proof is in the pudding, so to speak. In 1934, Democrat President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the National Firearms Act, which essentially banned machine guns, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, and suppressors, unless you paid a $200 tax to the IRS at the time, which then sent it to the newly-formed agency known as the ATF. 

Fast forward to 1968, and you have another Democrat bill, signed by another Democrat, President Johnson, called the Gun Control Act of 1968. However, this time, 147 Republicans joined the Democrats in the House to pass the bill. Fast forward to 1993 and another Democratic-led bill known as the HR 4296, or the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994, which thankfully sunsetted in 2004 after 10 years of showing almost no impact in the intended goal of preventing mass shootings. 

Ever since then, liberal states have taken extreme action on gun control, with California leading the nation in attacking our God-given rights. Even when states like New York get their blatantly unconstitutional laws get overturned by the Supreme Court, Democrats in California and other liberal states go on the attack yet again to pass their "Bruen Response" bills that spit in the face of the Constitution and the SCOTUS Decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen. Yesterday California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that they officially introduced their 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution on Twitter.

NEW: CA has officially introduced a US Constitutional Amendment to end the gun violence epidemic in this nation.

The American people want action. Congress has refused. It’s up to states to step in.

The Right to Safety will enshrine 4 gun safety freedoms:

1) Raising the age to…

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) August 15, 2023

So naturally, all our ire as gun owners would be pointed at Democrats regarding gun control, correct? Yes and no. It is a little more complicated than that. There are several Republican States that have successfully proposed and passed gun rights bills. Idaho, Utah, Texas, and several others have passed and signed into law so-called "Constitutional Carry" bills. Other states like Missouri passed their "Second Amendment Preservation Act," which asserted their 10th Amendment powers over the Federal government to shield their citizens from unconstitutional gun laws from them. However, more activist judges and courts have struck them down.

When it comes to individual states, Republican-controlled states typically live up to their promises to protect the Second Amendment. However, there are some Republican governors and/or legislators of some states that have joined their Democrat friends in offering up and even passing "red flag" laws. But when it comes to the federal level, what legislation have they passed that defeats gun control or, at the very least, supports and bolsters the Second Amendment? Answer: just one, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act of 2005, also known as PLCAA, which shields gun stores and manufacturers from lawsuits when their products are used in a crime. It's a great law and does a lot of good, even though some radical leftist judges are allowing suits against manufacturers and stores to go through the courts.

"Two new lawsuits this week alleged that social media companies, a gun accessory manufacturer, a Broome County firearms shop, a body armor dealer and the parents of accused Tops supermarket mass shooter..." https://t.co/iZfGDN0udZ

— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) August 16, 2023

 So besides PLCCA, Republicans in the United States Congress have done practically nothing to defend the Second Amendment and protect us from illegal and blatantly unconstitutional laws being passed and or proposed left and right by their radical Democrat colleagues. Every election cycle, we hear campaign promise after promise from Democrats saying they're going after the Second Amendment, and for the most part, you'll hear the opposite from Republicans. But when Democrats get elected, they put their money where their mouth is and start slinging the gun control bills; when Republicans get elected, it's crickets or pathetic losing attempts at bills that will never pass, let alone get signed. 

In the past 20 years alone, Republicans have been in complete power for a total of six years, with four of those years under President Bush and two of them under President Trump. We can discuss that horrible record some other time, but for now, it's gun control. Over the course of those six years, Republicans had the absolute perfect opportunity to pass some striking and powerful pro-gun legislation in history. They failed miserably, with PLCCA being their sole victory. Growing calls from the gun rights lobby, like those from the Firearms Policy Coalition, have repeatedly called for the repeal of the NFA and other laws. The only time when Republicans introduce these bills is when they hold just one of either chamber of Congress, which guarantees their bills go nowhere, but they can tell their constituents that they tried, but Democrats stopped them, or some other lame excuse.   

I will say to anyone that President Trump has done more for gun control than any president since President Clinton. Conservatives hate it when I say that and always respond with "You're completely wrong," or some other phrase that I can't write here. The most egregious action of any Republican to support gun control was done by Trump, even though he had the full support of gun owners when they voted for him for President in 2016. He had the full support of the National Rifle Association and most firearms advocacy groups, and for the first two years, when Republicans controlled everything, they quickly moved to do......nothing. Well, except for one tiny little thing. 

During the 2016 campaign, President Trump said that President Obama’s irresponsible use of executive orders paved the way for him to also use them freely. Trump then went ahead and used an executive order to ban the possession, sale, and transfer of so-called "bump stocks." Now here is where it gets really funny. I hear from a lot of gun owners who say they're staunch supporters of the Second Amendment, then immediately follow that up with something like "bump stocks are just dumb; they waste ammo and don't really serve a good purpose for anything but fun." Yet when I ask them if they should be able to own a machine gun, they're fully supportive. The name for these alleged pro-gun people is "Fudds." 

Yet another example of Fudds giving the Disarmament Regime all that it wanted in last year's BSCA.

And naturally, the ATF is looking to take full advantage.

We see you...👀...🖨️ pic.twitter.com/IMLsS8HEbA

— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) August 11, 2023

The moral of the story here, folks, is that when you want to call out your elected leaders for supporting gun control, they don't always have a "D" next to their names, and you can't always count on the people with "R's" next to theirs either. Democrats are always putting their money where their mouths are, they run on gun control, and when elected, they push their gun control legislation regardless of whether it passes or not. Republicans run on supporting the Second Amendment and but it's mostly crickets from them when they get elected.