In Florida’s U.S. Senate race, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio and Democratic Rep. Val Demings shared a stage for a fiery debate last night — it’s expected to be their only one-on-one event — in which the challenger pushed the incumbent on a variety of fronts, including gun violence.
The GOP senator responded with his go-to response to all questions about gun laws: “We just passed a bill they wanted and there was a shooting a week later, and a week after that. These bills don’t work. The only people that follow these laws are law-abiding citizens.”
Marco Rubio's gun violence plan is nihilism pic.twitter.com/3ORoRAwcsj
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 19, 2022
The senator didn’t specify the “bill they wanted,” but in context, he was probably referring to the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which was the first new legislation on gun policy to pass Congress in roughly three decades. Rubio, who has a knack for opposing bipartisan compromises, voted against it, despite knowing it’d pass easily without him.
To hear him tell it, the measure, which President Joe Biden signed into law in June, did not magically stop gun violence, which is why it should apparently be seen as a failure.
Whether the Republican incumbent realizes this or not, what’s amazing about his argument is that he didn’t just make the case against gun laws, he effectively made the case against all laws.
Consider Rubio’s exact pitch, but let’s change the underlying crime. Officials just passed a bill they wanted against car thefts, but someone’s car got stolen a week later. A week after that, someone else’s car was also stolen. Therefore, laws against car thefts don’t work — because the only people that follow these laws are law-abiding citizens.
Here’s another: Officials just passed a bill they wanted against arson, but someone set a fire a week later. A week after that, someone else set a fire. Therefore, laws against arson don’t work — because the only people that follow these laws are law-abiding citizens.








