Nearly 6 million Americans have purchased firearms since inauguration day. When it comes to protecting themselves and their families, they’re not waiting for a government solution.

For America’s 150 million gun owners, much of our law enforcement community and many rational people everywhere, President Biden’s recent call for more gun control measures dangled like the punchline to a bad joke.

Never mind that this comes from the leader of the party who for months watched many American cities burn and did nothing but signal tacit approval, embraced anarchists from Antifa and called to defund the police. The only certain outcome of Biden’s hollow gestures is that they will accelerate the sale of guns just like the anti-gun demagoguery of so many Democrats before him. If there’s one thing Democrats lack when it comes to solutions for crime, it’s a shred of credibility.

Biden’s rhetoric is little more than Democrat talking points that never advance the outcome of a safer society because the fundamental problem with the left’s assertion that more laws are the answer to the problem is that criminals don’t obey them in the first place. Not following laws, after all, is what makes them criminals and, in case that fundamental tenet of the argument was missed, it bears repeating. Rape, homicide, assault and the like are already illegal, yet the left is convinced that the first 20,000 gun laws (literally) on the books at the local, state and federal level need to be augmented because just one more law (or a dozen) will make the difference.

The Democrats’ latest push for more gun laws risks reducing their party to political carnival barkers on the subject as they resort to the tired playbook that goes something like this: Homicidal maniac massacres innocents somewhere in America, the mainstream media beats the drum of more gun control—demanding their friends in the Democrat party do something…anything—and outraged Democrats stand before news cameras demanding change. The problem, however, is that the proposals that they so often bring forth seldom correlate to the root causes of crime and while the Dems peddle snake oil to end criminality, most Americans aren’t buying the narrative.

Let’s take the call for another so-called assault-weapons ban. Democrats might earn a modicum of respect if anyone thought they could actually define what an ‘assault weapon’ is or distinguish the functional difference between an AR-platform gun and any number of myriad other rifles, shotguns and even handguns used for hunting, recreational shooting and personal defense. Problem is, they can’t. And never mind that more homicides are committed with knives, fists and clubs than all rifles combined. Because Dems so often rely on emotion, eventually the tears run dry and all that’s left is the hollow promise to fix a problem that they fundamentally don’t understand—or choose not to. We all weep for the victims and their families but spewing hyperbole at opportune times is no way to honor them.

While the cosmetics of ‘assault weapons’ may make them look like military grade armament, their functionality (and lethality) are no different than many traditional hunting rifles (in many cases, they are much less lethal). In fact, millions of AR-style rifles are used for hunting, target shooting and personal defense and are simply semi-automatic rifles which means you must squeeze the trigger each time you want to fire a round. Fully automatic rifles (true weapons of war) have long since been banned for civilian use in America. Moreover, of the 40,000 deaths involving guns in 2019, “active shooter” scenarios accounted for well under one percent of fatalities. Some 60 percent of firearm deaths, on the other hand, were suicides.

The fact that Democrats use the moments surrounding the media theater of mass killings to try and advance their gun control agenda—assault weapons bans, gun buybacks and the like—reveals just how disingenuous they truly are about solving the real problem of violence in America.

Instead, the reality of guns and crime in America is very different than the Democrats’ portrayal. Virtually every state has now passed some form of laws to allow citizens to carry concealed firearms. According to an exhaustive review of crime in America and the effects of conceal carry laws between 1977 and 1996, author John Lott concluded that these laws significantly reduced violent crime. While opponents on the left were quick to try and discredit the results, criminologist James Q. Wilson wrote in a subsequent Brookings Report, “Of the many scholars who were given Lott’s data and did their own analysis, most agree with his conclusions.”

The Dems would also have you believe that the proliferation of guns in America is leading to ever-growing gun crime. According to the Justice Department, 59 percent of Americans believe that homicides with guns are higher today than 25 years ago. Yet, despite record gun sales, between 1993 and 2017, homicides with firearms declined 24 percent, unintentional firearm fatalities dropped by 50 percent and other crimes with firearms fell nearly 80 percent.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 500,000 and 3 million people a year use a firearm to protect themselves. That figure, however, only includes cases that could be discovered and verified through public sources where no evidence of wrongdoing by the gun owner could be confirmed. In reality, that figure is almost certainly far higher as most defensive gun uses are never reported to law enforcement, much less picked up by local or national media outlets. The fact that so many instances of people successfully defending themselves with a firearm seldom makes the news—or Democrat talking points—further widens their credibility gap on the subject.

As the recent shooting in Boulder showed us—yet again—the attempt to create so-called ‘gun free’ zones by posting signs that warn law-abiding citizens that they can’t legally carry in a public facility often delivers the opposite result. Such signs, instead, become invitations to monsters looking to unleash hell. That should be as obvious as a bullseye at this point and many contend that companies who insist on disarming law-abiding citizens should be held liable for the harm they invite. When it comes to criminal behavior, research has shown us that perps fear being shot in the act of committing their crimes—and not so much by cops—but rather by armed citizens. As most cops will tell you, they are only minutes away when seconds count. Nearly 20 million Americans hold conceal carry permits, so criminals have every reason to be worried about return fire.

With 150 million Americans now owning some 450 million firearms, perhaps the narrative that the media and Dems might consider advancing is that if you look to commit a violent crime, don’t be surprised if you wind up dead. Rather than making the evil criminal elements of our society the focus, the left’s knee-jerk reaction is to instead turn to outlawing guns as if banning automobiles would be the solution to drunk driving.

As Biden and the Dems ramp up their rhetoric, undoubtedly poised to pounce in the aftermath of the next shooting, nearly 6 million Americans have purchased firearms since inauguration day. They’re going to the range, getting concealed carry permits and, in so doing, are sending an undeniable message to politicians everywhere: When it comes to protecting themselves and their families, they’re not waiting for a government solution.

This article originally appeared in Forbes. Follow Sporting Classics TV host Chris Dorsey at Forbes.

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