“I'm not talking about gun control. I'm not talking about waiting periods and background checks. I'm talking about flat-out banning the possession of handguns and assault rifles by individual citizens. I'm talking about repealing or amendment the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”Ensley’s argument is riddled with factual errors and leaps in logic. He claims that the Second Amendment has been “misinterpreted” and that it does not ensure private gun ownership — only gun ownership for a “well-regulated militia”.
The Supreme Court struck down this argument when it ruled in 2008 that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to bear arms anywhere under federal jurisdiction.
Ensley also claims that guns should be banned because the US is the “far and away leader in gun homicides.”
Yet violent crime in the United States has been plummeting for decades. The FBI’s most recent statistics show that murders have fallen most dramatically, to their lowest number since 1968. Property crimes have also decreased every year for eleven straight years.
Meanwhile, statistics show that gun bans in other countries have repeatedly failed to lower crime. As Breitbart.com notes, Britain banned nearly all handguns in the 1990s. Since then, it has become the most violent country in Europe.
Like most progressives, Ensley has no time for factual arguments or thoughtful debate. But at least he admits that the true purpose of “gun control” is to ban guns altogether.
