Following the recent violent attacks in Australia and at Brown University in Rhode Island, the head of a major gun-rights group is making a point that has been obvious to most TTAG readers for a long time. Unfortunately, gun-ban advocates either can’t see it or refuse to acknowledge it.

After a father/son team of radical Islamists killed 15 at a Hanukkah celebration in Australia and a man opened fire at Brown University, killing two and wounding nine others, many politicians in Australia and the United States began calling for more restrictive gun control laws.

However, according to Erich Pratt, senior vice president for Gun Owners of America (GOA), those calling for more gun control just don’t get it.

“Our hearts are heavy following the recent acts of violence in Rhode Island and Australia,” Pratt said in a Facebook post on December 15. “It is both sickening and avoidable that government policies continue to empower terrorists and mass murderers by enforcing gun bans and so-called ‘gun-free zones.’”

As Pratt pointed out in the post, anti-gunners have it backward in their zeal to see more restrictions.

“Despite what anti-gun advocates insist, the consistent failure in these tragedies is not the presence of firearms—but their absence in the hands of law-abiding citizens,” he wrote. “Gu control laws in these jurisdictions make it far more likely that no one is armed to intervene when violence erupts.”

Pratt further said such attacks are inevitable where government entities ban the carry of firearms for self-defense.

“Personal carry is banned on many college campuses across the United States,” he wrote. “In Australia, authorities have confiscated many firearms used for self-defense and prohibit civilians from carrying for personal protection. The result is the same: citizens left defenseless, police unable to respond instantly, and criminals free to act without fear or swift resistance.”

Ultimately, Pratt said more gun control laws would just lead to more such tragedies.

“These tragedies underscore a sobering reality—disarming responsible citizens does not stop mass killers, it enables them,” he concluded. “Doubling down on these failed policies only compounds the danger.”

Incidentally, such violent attacks are part of the reason GOA is pushing so hard for Congress to pass a national concealed carry reciprocity measure.

“After decades of unconstitutional attacks, the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act is necessary to restore the Second Amendment right to carry a firearm for self-defense nationwide and without fear of harassment by law enforcement in anti-gun states,” GOA President Tim Macy wrote in a letter to Congress. “The Second Amendment is a clearly established constitutional right. The vast majority of law enforcement officers support the Second Amendment right to bear arms for self-defense in public—a right that H.R. 38 seeks to restore for interstate travel.”

More on how mass shootings affect our 2a rights