Conservatives Seize on Denmark Shooting to Argue Against Gun Laws

Conservatives Seize on Denmark Shooting to Argue Against Gun Laws

Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, a gun control advocacy group, took issue with the reactions.

 

In the wake of the deadly shooting at a mall in Copenhagen, Denmark, over the weekend, some conservatives have come out to contend that stricter gun laws do not prevent mass shootings, Fox News has reported.

“Shooting in Copenhagen Denmark where guns are BANNED,” Florida Republican Congressional candidate Lavern Spicer said in a tweet. “Oooooh child I can’t wait for the Left to explain how that happened!”

 

Spicer added in another tweet: “My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims. I truly hate gun violence and I hate the evil people who wish to disarm the general public and keep them unsafe.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) said that “it's time to admit” that certain gun laws can’t prevent mass shootings. “There was just a mass shooting in Denmark, a country with some of the strictest gun laws in Europe,” she wrote. “It’s time to admit that gun laws DO NOT stop mass shootings!”

Dr. Willie Montague, a Republican candidate seeking to represent Florida’s 10th Congressional District, said he hopes the “Left wakes up and realizes that mass shootings are not prevented by gun laws.”

“Denmark makes it nearly impossible to get a gun, yet a mass shooting just happened there,” he continued.

Ohio Republican Congressional candidate JR Majewski echoed similar sentiments. “Can someone on the Left explain to me how a nation like Denmark has mass shootings when the only type of weapon that civilians may own without a [license] are air rifles,” he said. “Sounds like gun laws are useless for criminals, as we’ve been saying,” Majewski continued.

However, Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, a gun control advocacy group, took issue with such comments.

“Last year, there were 39 homicides in Denmark (not all by gun), which has strict gun laws,” she tweeted. “There were over 13,000 gun homicides in the US in 2021.”

Fox News reported that according to Gun Policy, an organization that compiles data and facts related to firearms worldwide, civilians in Denmark are not allowed to have automatic firearms or guns disguised as other objects. However, handguns are sometimes allowed for private possession, but only with special authorization.

Last month, President Joe Biden signed a sweeping gun control bill that includes millions of dollars for mental health, school safety, and crisis intervention programs, as well as incentives for states to include juvenile records in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The money can be used to implement and manage so-called “red flag” laws, which allow authorities to remove guns temporarily from people threatening violence.

 

Furthermore, the bill closes the “boyfriend loophole,” which allowed convicted domestic abusers to purchase guns if they weren’t married to their partner, even though spouses who perpetrate domestic violence are. There are also significant changes to the process when individuals aged eighteen to twenty-one attempt to purchase firearms.

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Washington state-based Finance and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.

Image: Reuters.