Whether “Defund the Police” actually means dismantling police departments, as it appears to in Minneapolis, or is an attempt to gaslight conservatives while neutering law enforcement, one thing is certain: The party yelling to “defund the police” is the same one that desperately wants to disarm the citizenry, rendering them utterly defenseless.

Leftists, and increasingly the Democratic mainstream, have long assured Second Amendment advocates that they simply have no need for firearms, specifically semiautomatic guns, which the left deems “assault rifles.”

Notwithstanding that rights aren’t derived from what one “needs,” particularly when the person discerning necessity is a combative third party, conservatives reject the left’s claim. Not only does the Second Amendment ensure that Americans’ right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, but it is inherent within a person’s natural rights to defend himself and his property.

The Proof Is in the Looting

That principle proved true over the last few weeks, as the nation has witnessed responsible citizens defending themselves, their businesses, and the property of others with ample firepower. In one particularly notable scene, a law-abiding gun owner disarmed an apparent rioter after the rogue lefted a semiautomatic rifle from the backseat of an abandoned police car. In another, a group of men, both black and white, stood armed outside a tobacco store to protect the business from looters.

Rioters just found an AR-15 in an abandoned police car and a hero immidiately pulled his gun and disarmed him.

CRAZY pic.twitter.com/efzLTcFDXf

— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) May 31, 2020

These guys say they support the protests but not the looting. Showed up to help this tobacco store owner stop people from breaking in pic.twitter.com/x2FMQiQwVK

— Max Nesterak (@maxnesterak) May 28, 2020

Videos of thugs beating female business owners and looting department stores prove that even when police aren’t disbanded, they can’t be everywhere. Citizens can’t always count on the boys in blue to defend them, even before the left’s efforts to cripple them. We must be able to protect ourselves.

Now, after years of 16-year-old gun “experts” and National Rifle Association opponents lecturing gun owners that the exercise of their rights is incompatible with caring about the lives of innocent school children and racial minorities, the majority of the Democratic Party also wants to take away the only method of defense they were going to leave you with. They want to defund the police.

‘Defund the Police!’

Many backtracked almost immediately, insisting that “defund the police” doesn’t really mean canceling the police, and that what we really need to do is divert resources to mental health professionals, social workers, counselors, and the like. Some seriously suggested police could be replaced with Planned Parenthood, safe illicit drug injection sites, and government-run health care.

Imagine being this wrong about human nature. https://t.co/bv6gYqsGez

— Kylee Zempel (@kyleezempel) June 10, 2020

A social worker and an abortionist won’t do you much good when an armed intruder is breaking into your home in the wee hours of the morning — and if Democrats had their way, you’d be rendered defenseless as well.

Yes, They Want Your Guns

Joe Biden will tell you “You’re full of sh-t” for suggesting Democrats want to disarm you, but the left’s disdain for the Second Amendment is undeniable. Remember “Hell, yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47″? That kind of anti-firearm energy from Beto O’Rourke pervades the left’s psyche, and it was grafted into this election cycle when the former vice president warmly welcomed O’Rourke’s radical gun perspective.

“I want to make something clear,” Biden said after O’Rourke endorsed him for the Democratic nomination. “I’m going to guarantee you, this is not the last you’re seeing of this guy. You’re going to take care of the gun problem with me. You’re going to be the one who leads this effort.”

Unconstitutional anti-gun plans don’t stop with Biden and O’Rourke. The Democratic Party line calls for “common sense” gun reform — whatever that means. Sense doesn’t seem too “common” among the party of which a majority, 55 percent, support defunding the police (not diverting resources; that was a separate poll question).

Mainstream Democrats have a track record of trying to infringe upon the Second Amendment, with those talking points resurfacing most notably during political campaign grandstanding or the exploitation of isolated shootings.

Retweet if you agree that the best way to honor 26 #Newtown victims is for Congress to pass common-sense gun violence legislation.

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 14, 2013

As president, I will give Congress 100 days to get their act together and pass reasonable gun safety laws. If they don’t, I will take executive action. Thoughts and prayers are not enough. We need action.

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) July 26, 2019

From the White House, I will take executive action to rein in an out-of-control gun industry. Gun manufacturers make billions by knowingly selling deadly products, and it’s time to hold gun dealers and manufacturers accountable for the violence promoted by these products.

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) August 10, 2019

I don’t think firearms are needed in churches. Let’s have a conversation on gun safety.

— Ralph Northam (@GovernorVA) January 30, 2019

How Long Until Biden Takes a Knee?

So far, most establishment Democrats have tried to rein in calls for defunding the police, fearful of voter repercussions in November if they take such an extreme position. Biden has denied support for defunding the police, insisting community policing is the way to go. But how long can the “Architect of Mass Incarceration” — Biden’s nickname courtesy of Sen. Cory Booker — last before Black Lives Matter makes him beg forgiveness for his role in the infamous 1994 crime bill? His penance in the church of the Great Awokening will surely involve decrying and defunding police.

With the majority of Democrats favoring defunding police departments, the establishment isn’t really in control. It doesn’t have a good track record of standing up to the progressive mob.

We’re talking about the same party of which its plethora of presidential contenders unanimously supported taxpayer-provided health care for illegal immigrants, that bogusly impeached the president to appease a Resistance losing its mind, that adopted a 16-year old climate extremist to appease the Green New Dealers, among incalculable other leftward lurches.

Don’t expect Democrats to suddenly become moderate now. The same party that wants your guns also wants to defund your defenders.