In Friday’s third debate for the Democratic nomination for president, gun reform policy took center stage yet again. Not surprisingly, the candidates appealed for the most draconian and tyrannical actions that have yet to be articulated on any issue. Referencing comments made last month to the media, Beto O’Rourke doubled down on his position to institute a mandatory buyback for “assault weapons.” In the debate, O’Rourke fervently declared, “Hell, yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47. We’re not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans anymore.” A wild applause from the crowd ensued.

Less discussed in the media was the moment between Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. Biden supports an assault weapons ban but argued that an executive order for such a ban is not legal. “You can’t do it [an assault weapons ban] by executive order any more than Trump can do things when he says he can do it by executive order,” Biden said. Kamala Harris turned to Biden, smiling widely while laughing, and answered, “Well I mean I would just say hey Joe, instead of saying no we can’t, let’s say yes we can!” Biden replied, “Let’s be constitutional, we got [sic] a Constitution.” Though both candidates are wrong in their core belief that the federal government can infringe upon constitutional rights, Harris’s comments are simply naked authoritarianism, an authoritarianism that is protected by the fact that the vicissitudes of political action toward firearms by the new far left Twitter element of the Democratic Party happens to agree.

And certainly, you do not have to agree with the Second Amendment. You can also choose to hate guns, and I know there are many of you out there who do. You can choose to stump for the Second Amendment’s repeal, but that probably will not happen. You can do whatever you want in terms of activism for any given subject, so long as it does not violate an individual’s rights. And that is the kicker, what is being called for in terms of firearm confiscation is violating individual rights. 

What is interesting about mandatory buyback as a policy position — which is simply a euphemism for confiscation — is that for how much this “program” has been discussed lately, there has been no dialogue concerning how to enforce such a measure, which clearly would have to somehow be enforced by an agent of the state, ironically, backed by the force of a firearm. One important fact must be understood. The vast majority of gun owners would say, in the face of a mandatory buyback policy, that “the guns are not for sale.” Gun owners would say, and I believe rightfully, that you can make “criminals” of us, but we will not comply by surrendering the rights given to us legally. In order to get what you want with “gun reform” you on the left must be willing, as the Democratic candidates seems to be, to simply bypass the Constitution, and if something so tyrannical occurs, it will be an ominous time for our country.  If anything in the Constitution does not matter and can be ignored, then nothing in the Constitution truly matters. This cannot be made so.

I have already written about the Democrats and leftists wanting to confiscate legal firearms, and that is certainly now more true than ever. The days of “Obama isn’t trying to take your guns” are over, only because Obama is no longer president. The days of “trying to take your guns” have arrived and been made explicitly clear by the leftist Democratic candidates, and this could certainly be the new normal for the party. In fact, it is so normal, that Diane Feinstein’s 2019 Assault Weapons Ban Bill is still sitting, waiting for the proper amount of support. The bill states in the opening line that, “This bill makes it a crime to knowingly import, sell, manufacture, transfer, or possess a semiautomatic assault weapon (SAW) or large capacity ammunition feeding device.” Notice a semiautomatic assault weapon, not just a rifle, is mentioned. The left is coming for all firearms, not only rifles, and they will be patient in doing so. This legislation clearly violates the Constitution, there is simply no doubt about this fact any longer.

Making criminals out of law-abiding people would be a serious mistake. Violating the Constitution so flagrantly would be a serious mistake. “Gun reform” in how the left desires will not end gun violence, and it is a serious mistake to ignore the real problems and focus on an inanimate object as the basis of your policy. There needs to be real, lucid discussion of solutions, but at the end of the day our rights do not end where your emotions begin.