Democrats turn tragedy into politics

Democrats always politicize gun violence, but after the tragic attacks in Dayton and El Paso, they do not just want to take away our guns, they also want to take away our freedom of speech. President Trump was right when said in his address to the nation last week that the people lost in these attacks must not die in vain. The only way that could actually happen, though, is if Democrats take away our freedoms in response.

After every tragic mass shooting, Democrats come out with the same litany of talking points. They talk about assault weapons bans, give misleading statistics of gun violence rates, and push to declare a national emergency. They blame the National Rifle Association and Republican lawmakers for the crimes committed by sick monstrous individuals, and they seek to punish the millions of law abiding gun owners in this country by taking away their constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

Democrats followed that script to the letter after the latest tragedies, but they also went a step further than they have in the past by threatening the freedom of speech of all Americans. During the recent Democratic presidential primary debate in Detroit, Senator Elizabeth Warren outlined the plan before the shootings even happened. “We need to call out white supremacy for what it is,” Warren said, deeming it “domestic terrorism” and asserting that “it poses a threat to the United States of America.”

For Democrats, however, “white supremacy” is little more than a catch all term they use to shame those who disagree with them into silence. By slapping President Trump and his supporters with the same label as the El Paso shooter, Democratic politicians and the liberal media seek to blur the line between those who commit acts of grotesque violence and those who simply oppose their radical policy agenda.

Today in our country, it is routine for Democrats to deride mainstream policies they disagree with as “racist,” “white nationalist,” or “white supremacist.” They have been calling President Trump those names for more than three years. They say that Fox News is white supremacist. In his article responding to the El Paso shooting, New York Times columnist Charles Blow called Republicans racist white supremacists.

By the logic of Senator Warren, that would make President Trump, Republican elected officials, and basically every conservative citizen in the country a domestic terrorist. Though this may seem hyperbolic, it is of tangible concern given the rhetoric of Democrats. Is advocating for border security to end the illegal immigration crisis an expression of white supremacy? Democrats say it is. Would pundits, politicians, and citizens who advocate for policies designed to limit illegal immigration therefore constitute domestic terrorists?

Democrats have always used tragedies such as the ones that took place in Dayton and El Paso as an excuse to demand that Americans give up their Second Amendment rights, but now they are trying to exploit the loss of innocent lives to go after the First Amendment rights of their political opponents. That will not do anything to end the scourge of gun violence. It will only exacerbate our existing societal divisions and make the healing process even more difficult. It is time for us to speak up and speak out against this attack on our rights.

Madison Gesiotto is an attorney and a commentator who serves with the advisory board of the Donald Trump campaign. She was an inauguration spokesperson and former Miss Ohio. She is on Twitter @MadisonGesiotto.