Rush Limbaugh Understood Guns/Gun Rights as a Political Tool for Democrats

Talk radio legend Rush Limbaugh understood gun rights and was keenly aware Democrats had politicized those rights in hopes of extending their support from voters around the country.

As a result of the politicization, he suggested gun control became a class issue; one that elites and establishment politicians embraced but were unable to logically explain or defend.

During the January 13, 2015, airing of his show, Limbaugh noted that elites view we the people with disdain. Therefore, when one discusses the rights possessed by “the people.” elites imagine the NASCAR crowd and envision “hayseeds, hicks, [and] people who drive pickups.”

He observed that such elites could not explain why their gun-controlled worldview was better than the vision of the Founding Fathers, nor how government could be trusted to keep us safe.

Limbaugh said, “They (the elites) don’t even know what they’re talking about. You hit them with irrefutable logic on this and all they do is stare at you like you are brain-dead when they don’t have a retort to it.”

Limbaugh’s comments came days after the January 7, 2015, Paris attack. He reacted to that attack by pointing out the gun-free rules that engulf so much of Europe. He then suggested that becoming a liberal is a “gutless” choice and the “easiest thing” to do because it removes any pressure to think for oneself. He bolstered his point about not thinking by noting that a terror attack can happen in Europe where gun control guarantees the criminals will be armed but the victims will not, and, as a liberal, people respond by calling for more gun control in America.

Less than a week after the February 14, 2018, Parkland high school shooting Limbaugh suggested Democrats were focused on politicization of attacks rather than school safety. He claimed Democrats respond to such shootings by going “political” and “[making] tracks for the NRA … and for the gun lobby.”

Roughly a year and a half later, in August 2019, Limbaugh said the politicization of gun rights had brought us to a point where Democrats wanted to point to the danger of mass shootings without doing anything to stop them.

He said, “The Republicans are signaling a willingness to talk to [Democrats]” about gun control but “they don’t want any part of it.” He added, “[The Democrats] don’t want any part to a solution to any of these problems.”

Limbaugh made these comments days after the heinous August 3, 2019, shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, and the August 4, 2019, shooting in Dayton, Ohio. He said the issue of guns had become so politicized that Democrats worried it they would inadvertently benefit Trump by supporting his efforts to reduce the number of shootings.

Limbaugh observed that Democrats were putting forth “all this rhetoric about guns and [President Trump] said, ‘Okay, I’ll talk to you about it,’ and he’s doing this with full knowledge that they are not going to take him up on it. He knows they are not serious about it.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.