The Left is Not Letting the New Zealand Crisis Go to Waste

“You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” These are the words of Rahm Emanuel, advisor and fixer in both the Clinton and Obama administrations, as well as the current Mayor of Chicago. His words are also an important part of the playbook of the left, which takes every advantage of natural or man-made catastrophes to advance their agenda. All extreme weather events are said to be evidence of global warming or climate change, and the only way to prevent the destruction of Planet Earth in the next 12 years is to cede more money and power to the federal government. Anyone in a Trump MAGA hat, even one standing as still as a statue, like Nick Sandman, proves that President Trump is a racist, sexist pig unsuited for public office.

And the periodic mass shooting is the crisis that the left uses to push further gun restrictions on an otherwise law abiding and responsible gun owning public. The recent mosque shooting in New Zealand is the perfect example and is playing out in such a predictable manner as to be a dream come true for the left. The timing was perfect since the left was losing the narrative and needed a distraction. The Russian collusion hoax is rapidly unraveling with rumors of sealed indictments for deep state tricksters being soon unsealed after Mueller finally released his “no additional indictments” report. Democrat hopefuls announcing their bids for the White House have become a clown show with Robert O’Rourke’s past fantasies of “running over children” to John Hickenlooper’s admission that at age 18, he took his mother to see a hard core porn movie, “Deep Throat”. For the American Left, gun control is one of their holy grails, after open borders, reparations, infanticide, transgender bathrooms, confiscatory taxes, banning planes and cows, and so on. The New Zealand shooting is a gift to the left, wrapped up in a pretty bow, ready to be opened on Christmas morning. New Zealand has announced a plan to ban assault weapons, however they are defined. “Assault weapon” is a politically contrived term that sounds scary but doesn’t describe actual firearms. It’s actually a ban on semi-automatic weapons, which include most modern handguns that require a trigger pull for each bullet fired, even if reloading is not required after each shot. It also bans fully automatic machine guns, which at least in the US are virtually impossible to legally obtain. In the US, such an assault weapon ban was pushed through by Bill Clinton and the Democrats in 1994, after which the Democrats promptly lost control of the House, and after the ban expired, there was no move to reinstate it. So what? Bill Clinton and his wife tried to take over healthcare in America, also failing, but that hasn’t stopped Bernie, Ocasio-Cortez and others from wanting to try it again. Also cited are gun control measures across the pond in Australia. The Aussies rolled out their version of gun control in 1996 after a mass shooting in Tasmania. The National Firearms Agreement banned possession of automatic and semiautomatic firearms. While Australia did not have another mass shooting, their firearm homicide rates were already on the decline, and continued to decline at the same rate as before the ban, as Matt Palumbo wrote. There was a similar downward trend in the US during the same time period despite a 50 percent increase in guns per capita in the US. Similarly Australians own more guns now than before the ban. Also ignored is the fact that most gun related deaths in Australia are suicides, not homicides. This is the predictable consequence of myopic legislation, creating more of what has been banned. Here in the US, Democrat presidential hopefuls are jumping on the bandwagon, not letting the NZ crisis go to waste, including Bernie Sanders. Rest assured, the rest of the Democrat clown show will double down on Bernie’s tweet, just as each wanted an even higher tax rate then the other candidates. Expect other candidates to demand a full repeal of the Second Amendment. The NZ shooter got his wish. He created the crisis that NZ and US leaders bought into hook, line, and sinker. From his manifesto. Finally, to create conflict between the two ideologies within the United States on the ownership of firearms in order to further the social, cultural, political and racial divide within the United states. This conflict over the 2nd amendment and the attempted removal of firearms rights will ultimately result in a civil war that will eventually balkanize the US along political, cultural and, most importantly, racial lines. How convenient. Things are playing out just as the shooter and the American left had hoped. If I didn’t know better, I would say something like, “Do you believe in coincidences?” The US media is predictably part of the show. The New York Times laments the US not having a leader like NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. She personifies crisis leadership, in the eyes of the Gray Lady, reflexively grabbing guns from law abiding citizens after the same government previously investigated the mosque shooter and decided he was worthy to own a gun in NZ. NZ has more restrictive gun laws compared to the US with required background checks, gun safety classes, and personal references. The mosque shooter passed all the checks. New Zealand police revealed Friday that they met with the accused Christchurch mosque shooter at his home in October 2017 before granting him the license that let him purchase the weapons used in the rampage. Even with the proposed new gun restrictions in NZ, the shooter would have likely still obtained his firearms, even if outside the law. Just look at the number of firearm homicides in the US cities with the most restrictive gun laws. But don’t let a crisis go to waste. NZ government officials are further restricting gun rights and ownership. American politicians are eager to do the same, using this crisis to full advantage. Brian C Joondeph, MD, MPS, a Denver based physician and writer. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.