Defeated 2016 Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton praised New Zealand’s gun ban and noted it demonstrates how leaders can do more than offer “thoughts and prayers.”

Breitbart News reported that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced New Zealand’s gun ban on March 21, specifically outlawing “military style semiautomatics and assault rifles.” She also proscribed “high capacity” magazines and certain other gun parts/accessories.

Clinton responded:

Under @jacindaardern's leadership, New Zealand has banned assault rifles and military-style semi-automatic weapons just six days after the Christchurch mosque attacks. Public servants didn't stop at offering thoughts and prayers. They chose to act. pic.twitter.com/HuodopsJFp — Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 21, 2019

Ironically, the video selection Clinton tweeted from Ardern’s speech is that in which the Prime Minister is admitting law-abiding gun owners will be hard-impacted by the ban. But Ardern makes clear she expects them to comply anyway “because it’s about all of us, it’s in the national interest, and it’s about safety.”

Ardern did not provide any proof that further disarming the law-abiding increases safety, nor did Clinton.

In the U.S. it is demonstrable that attackers strike in places where they know their would-be victims cannot defend themselves. A study by the Crime Prevention Research Center shows that 97.8 percent of all mass shootings in the U.S. between 1950 and May 2018 occurred in gun-free zones.

In other words, disarming the law-abiding does not make them safe; it may actually put their lives in jeopardy.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.