As 2019 continues to play out, House Democrats are pushing for tighter and more austere gun control laws.

Reviewing the Push for Stricter Gun Control

Yesterday, House Democrats put forth the H.R. 8 bill. In essence, the H.R. 8 bill would mandate background checks to occur on all sales of firearms. Of course, the left-wing is all for this and maintains that it will reduce violence carried out by guns. This is a common viewpoint which is peddled and supported by Democrats.

However, Republicans have a different outlook and their own objections to the H.R. 8 bill. The GOP largely believe that the latest push for gun control would penalize law-abiding gun owners while doing nothing to crack down on criminals.

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise articulated conservatives' concerns in the following public statement:

"Whether intentionally or not, the gun control proposals in H.R. 8 could turn law-abiding citizens into criminals while also failing to achieve the stated purpose of reducing gun violence."

A Closer Look at Gun Control

Democrats overwhelmingly support gun control legislation. As a matter of fact, gun control is an issue which House Speaker Pelosi affirmed would garner left-wing attention and action this year. Many left-leaning Americans argue that Democrats are not attempting to take away guns from lawful citizens; however, not everyone believes this.

By definition, criminals are not followers of laws. Therefore, many Republicans have concerns that Democrats' gun control legislation will only crack down on individuals who do abide by the law. Logically speaking, if lawful citizens have a tougher time with exercising their Second Amendment rights, they are less likely to be able to defend themselves if the situation demands it. This, in turn, leaves law-abiding Americans at the mercy of vicious, ruthless criminals.

Conservatives and others on the right have moreover presented solutions to eliminate violence carried out by guns. These solutions focus on the individual who elects to pull the trigger instead of the gun itself.

NRA spokesperson Jennifer Baker shed some light on these alternative solutions:

"[Gun control] only serves as a roadblock to law-abiding citizens who want to exercise their Second Amendment right. Instead of addressing the real underlying issues of mental health that could save lives, [Democrats] would rather engage in political theater, pushing legislation that will have no impact on criminals to score political points and raise money with their base."