This devious strategy explains why the left makes immediate political demands the moment some psychotic murders a crowd. They mock and ridicule anyone who takes time for thoughts and prayers, raging polemical about the immediate need for more gun control.

Given the Democratic shellacking of Colorado Republicans in 2018, Democrats consider Colorado Republican Sen. Cory Gardner the most vulnerable of Senate Republicans seeking reelection. Beating Gardner ranks among the left’s highest aspirations for 2020, perhaps second only to winning the White House.

That is why a leading progressive activist pounced on Gardner after separate gunmen shot up crowds in Ohio and Texas.

Colorado ProgressNow Executive Director Ian Silverii wrote a shameless column for The Denver Post blaming Gardner for the murders. We can pin gun violence on the senator, Silverii insists, because “he never does anything about it.” By that, Silverii means Gardner declines to support a left-wing wishlist of anti-gun legislation that would likely do nothing to stop massacres or other gun crimes.

“Japan and South Korea love violent video games, but they don’t have easy access to guns, so their murder rate is infinitesimal compared to the U.S.,” Silverii explains.

Japan’s murder rate is 1.1 for every 100,000 residents; South Korea’s is 2.3. The U.S. murder rate is 5 per 100,000 residents. All three countries fall below the international murder rate of 7.6, as determined by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime.

Disturbingly, Silverii cherry-picked Japan and South Korea as countries with comprehensive gun control and low murder rates. Other countries, with equally strict or stricter gun control, don’t support his premise.

Few countries impose more comprehensive gun control than El Salvador, where the ministry of national defence and the national civil police regulate private gun ownership.

One must possess a license to acquire a gun or ammunition. To obtain the license, each applicant must pass a thorough background check of mental health and criminal records and more. Applicants must prove “understanding of firearm safety” and requalify for a license every three years to avoid state confiscation. The government prohibits private sales and transfers of firearms. Qualifying individuals may buy only one firearm every two years from a state-licensed gun dealer.

With that gun control, El Salvador’s murder rate is 61.8. That is 54.2 above the worldwide average and 56.8 higher than the U.S. rate.

Venezuela banned private gun ownership in 2012. The government of then-President Hugo Chávez began actively disarming residents. Today, the country’s murder rate is 56.33. That is 48.73 above the international average and 51.33 above the United States’ murder rate.