Biden Gun Regulations Don't Affect Mass Shootings | RealClearPolitics
By John R. Lott Jr.
President Biden is making gun control a central part of his reelection campaign.
In a new ad, Biden says that Trump did "nothing" when children were "gunned down
in classrooms," innocent people "killed in church," and others "massacred at a
concert."
The Biden campaign is referring to shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High
School in Parkland, Florida; First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas;
and an outdoor concert in Las Vegas. In four years, there were 18 mass shootings
that occurred in public places and that did not transpire during another crime
such as robbery or selling drugs. (A "mass killing" is defined by criminologists
as involving four or more fatalities, not counting the shooter.)
But 23 mass public shootings have occurred so far under Biden - a 50% higher
annual rate than under Trump. The deadliest shooting resulted in 21 victims at
an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas - four more than were killed in Parkland.
Besides touting the establishment of the White House Office of Gun Violence
Prevention, Biden also points to his new Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms,
and Explosives' regulations for background checks on the private transfer of
guns. But these additional background checks wouldn't have prevented any recent
mass public shootings. For example, the Uvalde murderer didn't obtain his gun
through a private transfer, and he passed a federal background check. There
isn't
one mass shooting in this century that universal background checks would have
stopped. But almost no one seems to challenge the Biden campaign's stance on
this issue.
While Biden touts a regulation that won't accomplish anything other than
creating an obstacle to gun ownership and helping to complete a national gun
registry, there is evidence that Trump's proposed reforms could work.
After the Parkland shooting, Trump tweeted: "If schools are mandated to be gun
free zones, violence and danger are given an open invitation to enter. Almost
all school shootings are in gun free zones. Cowards will only go where there is
no deterrent." Ironically, the Gun-Free School Zones Act was introduced in
Congress in 1990 by then-Sen. Joe Biden.
After a mass murder at the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue, Trump made a
similar point: "If they had protection inside, the results would have been far
better. If they had some kind of protection inside the temple, maybe it could
have been a very much different situation. They didn't."
The only slight inaccuracy in Trump's tweet after Parkland is that all school
shootings with deaths or injuries, without exception, have occurred in schools
that ban teachers and staff from having guns. He needn't have offered the
qualifier "almost."
These mass murderers want to commit suicide, and they want media coverage. They
know that killing more people means greater media coverage, and they know that
defenseless victims are easier targets.
Police are very important in fighting crime, but they have a limited ability to
stop mass public shootings. "A deputy in uniform has an extremely difficult job
in stopping these attacks," noted Kurt Hoffman, a Sarasota County, Florida,
sheriff. Hoffman said that mass shooters can "wait for a deputy to leave the
area or pick an undefended location." And the problem with a visible police or
security presence, he said, is that the officers may as well be holding up neon
signs saying, "Shoot me first." Concealed handgun permit holders, however, can't
be identified and therefore take away shooters' tactical advantage.
California has the strictest gun control laws in the country - all the other
regulations Biden would like to see enacted nationally. But its per capita
annual rate of mass public shootings is significantly higher than in the rest of
the country. For shootings since 2000, California's rate stands at 0.33 per
million whereas the overall U.S. rate is 0.25 per million. Looking at data since
2010, California's rate is 0.28 per million versus 0.15 for the rest of the U.S.
And from 2020 to now, it's 0.13 for California and 0.05 for the rest of the U.S.
California's rate is also consistently higher than that of Texas, a state that
gun control advocates often seek to demonize.
Biden claims credit for the drop in reported murder rates last year, pointing to
his background checks and the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
This is a canard. The new rules are only going into effect this year. Also,
while last year's projected murder rate was indeed down from 2022, it's still 7%
above 2019 levels.
Given Biden's losing streak in the courts, his background checks may not exist
long after taking effect later this year. The difference between Biden and Trump
is clear. Biden wants credit for doing something even if it doesn't help. Trump
wants to do something that works.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2024/06/19/biden_gun_regulations_dont_affect_mass_shootings_151131.html 
Biden Gun Regulations Don't Affect Mass Shootings