Here's another politician who thinks he knows better than the Constitution. Justin J. Pearson, a Memphis Democrat running for Congress, is pushing a national gun licensing scheme that would require folks to get a government permission slip just to exercise their Second Amendment rights.
Now, Pearson wraps his pitch in the usual emotional language—claiming gun injuries are the "leading cause of death for children." But dig into the numbers and that's pretty misleading. That stat excludes kids under one year old, and most firearm-involved fatalities are clustered among older teens. For children between 1 and 15, car accidents are actually the leading cause of death. Pearson's either deliberately twisting the data or doesn't bother to check it.
The really embarrassing part for gun control advocates? Crime is plummeting WITHOUT new gun laws. Memphis saw a 30% drop in violent crime this year, murders down 41%, and aggravated assaults down nearly 30%. That's happening without any new federal or state gun control—partly thanks to Trump's crime task force and National Guard deployment. You don't need to criminalize legal gun ownership to make communities safer, and Memphis is proving it.
The truth is, there's no way to implement a national gun licensing scheme without stomping on our fundamental rights. The Second Amendment is a right, not a privilege you have to ask permission for. We don't need a permission slip to speak freely or practice religion, and we shouldn't need one to keep and bear arms.
The silver lining? Pearson's an underdog. After redistricting, his district is now rated R+9. If gun owners and Second Amendment supporters show up in November, this anti-gun scheme goes down in flames.
Our right doesn't need their permission.