No, Chuck Todd. The GOP Isn’t ‘Extreme’ For Opposing Gun Control

MSNBC host Chuck Todd on Friday said the Republican Party has gone “extreme” on their opposition to Democrats’ gun control agenda. The problem, however, isn’t the GOP putting their foot down on anti-Second Amendment legislation. The real issue is how extreme Democrats’ gun grabbing really is.

“In 1999, [National Rifle Association Executive Vice President] Wayne LaPierre testified about more background checks, and we used to accept the idea that you should get a permit before you owned a gun,” Todd said. “So, my point is, it does seem as if the Right has shifted to a very extreme position on the Second Amendment, in a collective fashion. It’s not just your Lauren Boeberts, but it’s a growing faction of even mainstream Republicans.”

MNSBC Capitol Hill Correspondent Garrett Haake said the Trump era changed what being a “moderate Republican” looked like.

“Who, in what you might consider the moderate wing of the Republican Party, could provide cover for wanting to restrict gun rights in any way, right?” Haake said. “This is not John Boehner’s Republican Party. It’s not Mitt Romney’s – it’s certainly not Mitt Romney of Massachusetts’ or New Hampshire’s Republican Party. … There are no moderate Northeastern Republicans anymore, hardly to speak of. The group of people who might have said, ‘If we band together, we can discuss this issue and protect ourselves from our own right flank’ doesn’t really exist anymore in the modern Republican Party.”

WATCH: GOP becoming increasingly extreme on opposing gun control measures. #MTPDaily@GarrettHaake: “The group of people who might have said, ‘If we band together, we can discuss this issue and protect ourselves from our own right flank’ doesn’t really exist anymore.” pic.twitter.com/Z0FlollXUb

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) April 9, 2021

The issue of gun control is something that impacts each and every one of us. The Democrats continue to reach for a mile because Republicans gave them an inch in the past. We have the Gun Control Act and the National Firearms Act, which regulate firearms. The Brady Act is also a law, which requires background checks whenever a firearm is purchased from a Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL). Fix NICS was passed in 2018. It forces government agencies to provide criminal convictions to the National Crime Information Center, which oversees the background check program. It’s crazy that a law had to be passed to force law enforcement and military agencies to provide information that could deem someone as a “prohibited possessor.”

Republicans have drawn a line in the sand because every single one of Democrats’ gun control policies are riddled with problems.

“Universal background checks” can’t be universal unless a registry is established. That means the government knows what you own, how long you’ve owned it, and how many firearms are in your possession. It also eliminates Private Party Transfers (PPTs), which typically take place between family members.

The National Research Council found that the 1994 assault weapons ban “did not reveal any clear impacts on gun violence outcomes.” Reinstating something that didn’t work is useless.

“Red Flag” laws allow designated people, like law enforcement, teachers, family, and coworkers to petition the court for a person’s firearms to be confiscated. The problem is the lack of due process. The gun owner doesn’t get a day in court and they are on the hook for clearing their name, assuming it’s even possible.

Chuck Todd can say the GOP is extreme for wanting to preserve the right to keep and bear arms, but they’re not. They’re doing what’s in the best interest of the Constitution – and the American people.

Beth Baumann is a Political Reporter at The Daily Wire. Follow her on Twitter @eb454.

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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