David Hogg, the former Florida high school student who rose to national prominence following the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, will appear at a fund raiser sponsored by Washington Democrats and the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, a Seattle-based gun prohibition lobbying group.
The announcement came in an email blast from Washington Democrat Chair Shasti Conrad, who said her group is “thrilled” to have Hogg, a co-founder of March For Our Lives in attendance. However, while the date and time of this event has been revealed—Sunday, May 5, 4-6 p.m. in Seattle—the location is available only to people who submit an RSVP.
The event is soliciting contributions ranging from $100 to $5,000.
While gun control proponents may be delighted, members of the Second Amendment community have a far different take.
Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, a national grassroots gun rights group based in Bellevue, Wash., released a blistering statement to the media in which he chastised Democrats.
“They are obviously fearful of protest by Second Amendment activists so they’re keeping the location secret,” said Gottlieb. “Democrats are co-hosting this event with the Seattle-based Alliance for Gun Responsibility, the billionaire-backed gun prohibition lobbying group. Naturally, they are asking for donations.”
Gottlieb challenged the Democrats to detail where the money is going.
“How much money from this event will go to anti-gun Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s campaign to be the next governor,” he wondered. “How much will help fund state legislative campaigns for anti-gunners? Will any of this money be used to promote laws to lock up violent criminals?”
Ferguson is the Democrat front runner to succeed retiring Gov. Jay Inslee, another Democrat. Both men have been strong supporters of gun control over the past 12 years.
“In her message,” Gottlieb observed, “Conrad acknowledges that gun control is ‘a key issue for Democrats in 2024.’ They claim Washington is a ‘nationwide leader’ in gun control efforts, so maybe the Democrats will explain why the number of homicides in Washington has doubled over the past ten years, and tripled during the same period in Seattle, when all of these new gun laws were promoted as ways to reduce violent crime.”
TGM looked back at crime data from the FBI and Seattle Police Department. In 2014, when the billionaire-backed gun control push began, the state reported 172 murders, of which 94 involved firearms. In 2022, the most recent year for which data is available, the state reported 394 slayings. Over that same period in Seattle, where the Alliance is headquartered, homicides have skyrocketed from 23 in 2014 to at least 69, and possibly 73, in 2023, depending upon whose figures one accepts.
“From any rational perspective,” Gottlieb stated, “that is a record of absolute failure. Washington Democrats are self-delusional to argue that gun control has been a success, unless they think disarming honest citizens, while the body count rises, is some kind of moral victory. Evidently moral victories are more important to anti-gun Washington Democrats than locking up criminals and saving lives.”
In her message, Conrad substituted “gun safety” for “gun control,” while grassroots activists in the firearms community call that “camo-speak.”
