When President Joe Biden calls for an assault weapon ban in the early hours after a mass shooting, he looks pretty silly when it turns out the killer used a handgun or something other than an evil black rifle of some kind. But, he lucks up and gets it “right” from time to time, too, if only in the sense that he called it correctly as to the type of weapon used.
But every now and then, someone will come up with a take so insanely stupid that you just kind of sit in awe of it. You wonder how anyone who has enough functional brain cells to make semi-coherent sentences can come up with such a terrible argument.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what I’m talking about.
We’ll start with a headline that read, “Jason Kander: Repealing this stupid law might prevent the next KC Chiefs rally shooting | Opinion” and then get into this:
Since the PLCAA passed, gun deaths in America have risen by a horrifying 59%. Allow me to repeat that. Since a law you probably just found out about for the first time just now was passed, gun deaths have risen 59%.
The gun lobby is fond of saying we don’t need any more gun laws. Fine, then let’s have one fewer. Repeal PLCCA and allow communities across this country to once again hold gun makers to the same standard as literally every other company selling a product. If we do that, they’ll have no choice but to reform themselves. They’ll finally roll out smart gun technology, for a start — and given the fact that the majority of gun crime is committed with stolen guns, that’d be a heckuva start.
Whether Republican or Democrat, gun owner or not, we can all agree that suffering 43,000 gun deaths a year is unacceptable. Solving this problem should not be a political fight. The overwhelming majority of this country supports closing loopholes in the law to save lives. Honor the victims of Wednesday’s shooting by taking meaningful action. Write or call your member of Congress, cast your ballot in November, and support organizations and lawmakers working hard to stop the epidemic of gun violence. I joined Giffords Gun Owners for Safety to advocate for needed change, and I urge you to join the fight in your own way.
If Kansas Citians and Americans work together for change, we can ensure next year’s three-peat Super Bowl parade stays safe. As it should be.
That’s right, the PLCAA–a law which forbids lawsuits against gun makes except for when there’s actual wrongdoing–might have stopped the shooting in Kansas City.
Now, Kander acknowledges that we’re still learning the facts of what happened, which makes his argument even dumber. After all, if we knew definitively that someone did something wrong with regard to selling a gun to the gunman but that they’d still be protected by the courts, he might have a point.
Instead, he’s just trying to throw crap at the walls and hoping something sticks.
“But no other industry has this kind of immunity!” Kander essentially claims in the piece, but he neglects to mention that no other industry needs this kind of protection. People aren’t out there suing Jack Daniels for DUI fatalities, for example. They’re not suing Toyota for vehicle crashes that weren’t the result of some kind of fault with the car.
As for what happened in Kansas City, though, to say a repeal of the PLCAA would or could have prevented the shooting is grasping at straws that only exist in Kander’s mind.
What he’s really saying is that something bad happened and he thinks this is a swell time to file so many lawsuits against gun manufacturers that they’ll be too afraid to sell guns to private citizens. Who needs gun control when there are no guns available for purchase?
That or he wants to simply sue them into bankruptcy. Either way, the result is the same.
But only a fool thinks that’ll stop criminals from getting guns. We’ve seen them get them in Europe where they have incredibly strict gun control laws and few sales to private parties. They’ll get them here as well.
So yeah, this is literally the dumbest take I’ve seen on Kansas City so far.
I say “so far” because if there’s one thing the gun control bunch is good at it’s one-upping stupidity like this.
