By: Ted Patterson

“More gun control” is always the mainstream media’s answer when a violent tragedy occurs. But gun control doesn’t make us safer, and it’s important to be able to counter the most popular progressive anti-gun myths with iron-clad truth. Put these facts in your arsenal and have them ready the next time someone tries to infringe on your Second Amendment rights:

Fact #1: Gun-free zones are mass shooter hot spots.

Every time a school shooting tragedy occurs, gun grabbers are quick to call for further shredding of our Second Amendment rights. Gun-free zones leave large populations of people, normally vulnerable children and college students, completely defenseless in an active shooter situation.

Most recently, the Parkland, Florida shooting occurred as you might expect: in a gun-free zone. Florida state law prohibits guns in schools, as do many other states. Listen here to a recent interview on the Parkland, Florida shooting that Laura Ingraham held with Dr. John Lott, author of “More Guns, Less Crime.” The interview sheds light on the myth of gun-free zones somehow being safer for those in them.

Fact #2: Background checks do not save lives, and they do not prevent mass shootings.

The Parkland, Florida shooter had police at his house 39 times over the past seven years. Student after student identified this guy as dark, crazy, and “off.” He was even reported to the FBI, and yet nothing was done about it. And yes, he passed a background check. When you debate a gun control proponent and give them these facts, you will quickly expose them for their true position: total gun confiscation.

Fact #3: Most of the gun violence happening in America today takes place in pro-gun control areas.

Take Baltimore, Maryland, for example. This is a city with some of the nation’s worst crime and gun violence statistics in the country. These stats have gotten worse and worse in recent years. During the same time, gun laws in Maryland became stricter and stricter. In 2013, Maryland passed one of the strictest gun control packages in the country. Now in 2018, even in the wake of the Parkland, Florida school shooting, Maryland lawmakers are working to expand gun-free zones in the state to all college campuses. Here’s a map from the Crime Prevention Research Center showing the distribution of murders nationwide:

(Source)

As you can see here, some of the most notorious anti-gun jurisdictions such as Los Angeles, Miami, Detroit, and Chicago are national hot spots for gun violence. We do not have a “national epidemic” of gun violence, we have tight pockets of big cities that are drinking the gun control Kool-Aid.

Fact #4: Gun owners save lives (Yes, even while using AR-15s).

You and I know that Gun Grabbers have no understanding of guns, so it is a fool’s errand to try to run down that rabbit hole. We need to spread stories like this one out of Houston, Texas:

This guy was under attack by three thugs, and it was only because he practiced shooting and had his AR-15 that he was able to survive the attack and live to tell about it. Stories like this one happen across America every day, where law-abiding gun owners protect their family, their property, and their own lives against criminal thugs.

Remember the Texas Church shooting? That tragedy was stopped by a civilian using an AR-15 style rifle.

Gun control activists swear up and down about how we don’t need AR-15s. They say, “What use could anyone have with such an assault weapon?” This is a tactic designed to prey upon ignorance among those who know little to nothing about guns.

Fox News reports other stories over time where gun owners saved lives by exercising their rights:

“-- In 1997, the assistant principal of Mississippi’s Pearl High School, Joel Myrick, used the .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol he kept in his truck to detain 16-year-old Luke Woodham after the teenager stabbed and bludgeoned to death his mother at home and killed two students and injured seven at the high school.

-- A decade later, in 2007, Matthew Murray killed four people at Colorado Spring church before being shot by church member and volunteer security guard Jeanne Assam.

-- Last April, an Uber driver with a concealed-carry permit shot and wounded a gunman who opened fire on a crowd of people in Chicago’s Logan Square.

-- This September, an usher at a Tennessee church used his personal firearm to subdue a masked gunman who had already killed one woman in the church’s parking lot and injured six others inside.”

Fact #5: Complacency will spell the end of our Second Amendment rights.

A widespread narrative being tossed around, especially by the left, is to say how powerful the NRA and the gun rights lobby is, and how successful they have been in defeating gun control measures. As innocent children are shown on TV after shootings, and public opinion polls come out regularly claiming there is widespread support for gun control, the storm clouds are gathering in Washington, D.C. and in state legislatures across the country. Do not be taken in for a second by these talking points.

It doesn’t matter whether Democrats or Republicans are in office -- the loss of your gun rights is always just a vote away. The mainstream media and leftist activists are doing a brilliant job at politicizing tragedies to play into their agenda, and if you and I are not diligent in protecting our rights, we will lose them.