When Hillary Clinton tried to exploit the Las Vegas shooting spree, one tweet stood out.
The crowd fled at the sound of gunshots.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 2, 2017
Imagine the deaths if the shooter had a silencer, which the NRA wants to make easier to get.
What was Hillary talking about?
A silencer or suppressor for that kind of weapon wouldn't have been "silent". Hillary's line of attack was on the strange side. But it wasn't really.
A major gun control agenda item has been the SHARE Act. The SHARE Act is bipartisan and has a variety of measures making life easier for hunters and fishermen, along with more conventional conservation legislation. A provision to the SHARE Act includes a shift on silencers or suppressors.
. The Duncan-Carter Hearing Protection Act will remove suppressors from the scope of the National Firearms Act (NFA), replacing the outdated federal transfer process with an instantaneous National Instant Criminal Background Check (NICS).
Rep. John Carter said, “Suppressors do not make guns silent or dangerous, they are simply a form of hearing protection, both for the shooter and their hunting dogs. The Duncan-Carter Hearing Protection Act is common sense legislation that increases safety while shooting, allowing people to easily hear and react to range safety officers and fellow hunters. I am proud to be an original sponsor of this important legislation, and to work with my colleague Rep. Duncan to increase the availability of suppressors to sportsmen.”
The anti-second amendment lobby has been trying to tar the SHARE Act as the Silencer Bill. That's politics as usual.
It also explains Hillary's bizarre tweet. The failed candidate wasn't reacting to the attack. Instead she tried to shove an existing agenda item into a breaking story in a way that made no sense.
But that tweet also highlights the cynicism of the entire pre-emptive gun control push. The "We need to talk about gun control" push begins before any of the facts are in. But the facts don't matter. There are existing talking points, like the one about silencers, that get trotted out even though they have nothing to do with the actual attack.