(USA Features) Rep. Nancy Mace is pushing back on Democrat calls for restrictive new gun laws by noting that cities run by the opposition party that already have such laws are still experiencing dramatic increases in firearms-related crimes and homicides.
“It’s interesting because I’ve heard numbers such as in New York, (where) they want to spend $140 million on gun control,” the South Carolina Republican told Newsmax TV on Monday.
“Look at a place like Chicago where just a week ago last weekend there were 108 shootings, a place where Mayor Lori Lightfoot wanted to defund the police and is now begging for federal funding from the federal government and the Biden administration,” she added.
Mace’s comments come on the heels of a new study that found no clear connection between last year’s dramatic rise in gun sales — as rioting and violence broke out all over the country following George Floyd’s death in May and lasted throughout the summer and fall — and a simultaneous rise in gun homicides.
She also made her remarks as the Biden administration and Democrats in Congress are considering new gun laws.
Moving on, Mace said it was “time to set the record straight” regarding administration claims that Republicans, not Democrats, were actually pushing to defend police departments last year.
“The problem with what the Democrats are selling right now is they’re throwing everything at the wall because they’re projecting,” she said.
“There are many Democrats that ran on defunding the police,” Mace added.
She went on to point out that those Democrats are “to the left of Bernie Sanders” because even the Vermont independent senator who is seen by conservatives as a socialist doesn’t want to defund the police.
As such, “They’ve got a real problem on their hands, particularly headed into the 2022 midterm election cycle,” Mace predicted.
She went on to note that she has a concealed carry permit for while she is in her home state and is about “halfway through” the process of obtaining one from the District of Columbia after receiving threats.
“Sometimes if you have to look over your shoulder, you don’t know what’s going to happen next, and I have to take these threats seriously, and I do,” Mace said.
“Unfortunately this is where we are in this country. And on August 15, South Carolina will have open carry,” she said, referencing a state bill making its way to the governor’s desk.