This always happens; every time a school or mass shooting occurs, various gun-control methods are pushed. To be clear, the intentions of those doing the pushing are usually good, with the safety of those children or individuals in mind. However, the unfortunate truth is that those same pushers often don’t have a good understanding of firearms or even the current laws that are related to them to comprehend why new and usually much more limited methods won’t work.
And in this case, even GOP members can get lost in the craziness of it all.
Enter Republican Representative Chris Jacobs of New York. As a congressman who represents a district that widely includes the city of Buffalo, New York, the unfortunate home of a recent and deadly mass shooting, Jacobs has seen and heard the devastation that firearms can unleash if held in the wrong hands.
But rather than siding with most of us who know that the gun itself is not the problem, Jacobs has recently allowed himself to be swayed by those who say exactly that.
In fact, he’s even chosen to support proposed legislation that would ban so-called “assault weapons,” as they have been used in a number of these mass shootings over the years and, as such, have gotten quite a bad rap as being unnecessarily deadly and dangerous.
And for Jacobs, that decision turned out to be the wrong one, at least where his career is concerned. As of Friday, just one week to the day after making such statements of support for such a ban, he was forced to make another announcement, this one about him dropping out of the upcoming re-election for his seat.
Jacobs, like most of Congress, is up for re-election come November. And since he just won his first term in 2020, everyone knew he would be running again. But after his recent admission of support for a bill that is apparently widely not accepted by the GOP base, it seems that everyone who supported his run has now withdrawn it.
According to his Buffalo News statement, “This obviously arises out of last Friday, my remarks, statements on being receptive to gun controls. And since that time, every Republican elected (official) that had endorsed me withdrew their endorsement. Party officials that supported me withdrew, most of them, and those that were going to (support him) said they would not. And so, obviously, this was not well received by the Republican base.”
Well, duh… I mean, how did Jacobs think this was going to go over?
For decades, it has been Republicans who have fought for our Second Amendment rights the most, while Democrats have tried to limit them. And yet, here we have a Republican who has suddenly changed his mind and said that certain firearms, which happen to be quite popular, by the way, should not be allowed.
In his May 27 news conference on the issue, shortly after the tragic shooting in Buffalo, Jacobs reiterated just how “impactful” the event had been for him. And it should have been. But it must have also impacted his common sense, telling him that a massive change in position would be ok, if not right.
He told the audience, “If an assault weapons ban bill came to the floor that would ban something like an AR-15, I would vote for it. So I want to be clear: I would vote for it.”
Now, I say common sense evaded Jacobs because 1) he had to know the Republican base wouldn’t be too fond of this, and 2) all of the facts point to a ban like this not working, let alone passing.
For starters, the alleged Buffalo shooter wrote a manifesto that explicitly described why he chose the place he did for his “attack.” And all of it is because gun laws are already strict there, making it less likely that he would come against any real sort of “resistance” either from armed citizens or even security personnel.
Secondly, there is the fact that from 1994 to 2004, there was a similar ban in place – and yet, mass shootings continued…
Lastly, everyone knows that, should such a ban be proposed, and should it even pass in the House, thanks to those like Jacobs, the evenly split Senate would never allow it to go through.
But apparently, none of that occurred to Jacobs before he let his emotions get the better of him. And that is precisely why he no longer deserves his seat of power, along with the fact that he also didn’t listen to those he’s supposed to be representing.
