As gangs, drug cartels and rioters take over America’s cities, gun violence is rising. Since Joe Biden took the oath of office, more than 8,400 Americans have been shot to death. That is 55 lives lost per day, compared to an average of 45 lives lost per day during Donald Trump’s presidency. The Biden administration is now calling for Congress to adopt strict gun control legislation.

On June 23, Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland unveiled new guidelines on how cities and states should use covid-relief funding to combat gun violence. They also unveiled a series of proposed gun control laws. These policies would amplify a package of executive actions Biden signed in April that direct the Justice Department to draft a rule deeming illegal most firearms with a stabilizing pistol brace and to publish an example of “red flag” legislation for states to follow. Such “red flag” laws allow police or family members to petition a court to bar someone from accessing a gun.

In addition to these new policies, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced that it would revoke the licenses of gun dealers who violate federal law by “willfully” transferring a firearm to a person prohibited by federal law from owning one.

“These merchants of death are breaking the law for profit,” said Biden. “If you willfully sell a gun to someone who’s prohibited, my message to you is this: We’ll find you and we’ll seek your license to sell guns. We’ll make sure you can’t sell death and mayhem on our streets.”

But many states are pushing back hard against these new gun control policies, saying they violate both state law and, more importantly, the United States Constitution.

Every sheriff in Utah signed a letter on June 1 saying that they would not enforce federal policies that violate the Second Amendment. This amendment states: “A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” This letter did not name any specific federal policies, but it was published after Democrats in Congress introduced a slew of bills that would enhance background checks, ban magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, and bar people from owning “assault weapons.”

“With our fellow Utahans, we recognize the Constitution not only as the founding document that establishes the structure of our government but in regard to the Bill of Rights—the first 10 amendments—it is the guarantor of individual rights and the limiter of federal government power,” read the sheriffs’ statement. “The Constitution is the supreme law of the land, and all legislation and government action must comply strictly with it. … Importantly, the Second Amendment of our divinely inspired Constitution clearly states … ‘the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.’ We hereby recognize a significant principle underlying the Second Amendment: The right to keep and bear arms is indispensable to the existence of a free people.”

These 29 Utah sheriffs are far from the only Americans standing up against the Biden administration’s strict gun control policies. The Republican-controlled legislatures of at least nine states have passed laws of varying strength that discourage or prohibit state and local law officers from enforcing federal gun control statutes that violate the Second Amendment. These states include Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.

On June 12, Missouri Governor Mike Parson signed a bill called the “Second Amendment Preservation Act” into law at a gun store called Frontier Justice. This new law levies a fine of $50,000 against any local police agency that enforces federal gun regulation that infringes on the people’s Second Amendment rights. The Justice Department is furious and has warned Missouri officials that they cannot ignore federal law. In a letter sent on June 16, acting Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton claimed that federal law supersedes Missouri’s new statute, citing the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.

Yet Missouri officials are not about to back down. They responded to the Justice Department’s letter immediately, noting how other states have passed laws that effectively make Second Amendment sanctuaries.” By using the word “sanctuary” in their response, Missouri officials invite people to compare their efforts to defy federal gun statutes to the efforts of “sanctuary cities” to defy federal immigration law. The difference between these two acts is that Congress has a constitutional mandate to pass immigration laws but does not have the authority to violate the Second Amendment.

The Biden administration gun control legislation will not do much to reduce America’s gun violence problem. It is a fact that the vast majority of murders in the U.S. occur in a small percentage of counties that already have strict gun control laws. In a 2017 report, the Crime Prevention Research Center found that 68 percent of killings occurred in just 5 percent of the nation’s counties. Even in these counties, homicides tended to be concentrated in small pockets of the district. The report also established that areas with the highest gun ownership rates tended to have the lowest murder rates.

So Democratic attempts to use the federal government to implement strict gun control nationwide will not affect crime-ridden cities much, as these cities are already doing what the Democrats want. Instead, these efforts will mainly affect rural counties by forcing conservatives to give up their guns. You do not have to know a lot about history to see why many people know this is a bad idea.

“The Soviet Union left its mark as one of the deadliest political regimes in the history of mankind,” wrote José Niño for the Mises Institute. “However, it could not get away with such atrocities without having a complete monopoly on the use of force. To maintain its iron grip, the Soviet Union had to turn to the most proven form of suppression—gun confiscation. On Dec. 10, 1918, the Council of People’s Commissar mandated that Soviet citizens turn in their firearms.”

Of course, the Soviets packaged their draconian gun control measures as necessary to reduce crime, but ultimately, the Soviet Union turned into a continent-size horror story because the Soviets ignored laws that limited the government’s power and protected individual rights.

When you look at the radical left in America today, there are strong parallels with the Russian Bolsheviks. Several field organizers for the Bernie Sanders campaign were even caught on film waxing nostalgic about the Bolshevik Revolution and discussing the need to overthrow American capitalism.

“Most Republicans don’t realize what they are dealing with: people who are absolutely committed to destroying the government of this land!” Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in “Saving America From the Radical Left—Temporarily.” “The mindset behind the radical Democrats is exposed when you look at their handling of another issue: gun control. Every time there is a school shooting, even before any facts about the situation come out, they immediately begin pushing for gun bans. After the most recent shooting, they funded student groups and encouraged students to revolt against authorities. They don’t just want to raise the buying age or to restrict the sale of a few types of guns; they want to eliminate all guns. They hate the Second Amendment and want to destroy the Constitution.”

The fact that 10 Republican states are now outright refusing to enforce unconstitutional gun control measures will not deter the radical left. It will only convince them of the need to use federal power to crack down on Second Amendment sanctuaries and force their socialist policies on the American people. Everything is moving in the direction of violence and civil war!

A prophecy in Ezekiel 5:12 reveals that one third of the population of end-time America and Britain will die from the pestilence, famine and violence that will result from civil war. That equals more than 100 million deaths from rioting and warfare in the United States—10 times more than in the Russian Civil War! (Request our free book Ezekiel—The End-Time Prophet for a thorough explanation of this prophecy.)

What people don’t understand about democratic socialism is that its purpose is the same as that of dictatorial socialism: to overthrow the constitutional government by violence if necessary. Bible prophecy shows that America’s great blessings will be taken away, not just because socialists “outmaneuvered” conservatives but also because the American people have turned away from God. This has opened the door to communism and other attacks inspired by the devil.

The coming violence in America’s cities is punishment, but it is punishment with a purpose. God will use it to show us the result of sin and turning away from Him to our own way of thinking (Ezekiel 12:17-20). God blessed Abraham for his obedience to His law, and his descendants were supposed to follow his example. Only after people learn this lesson will God bless America—and all nations—with peace, joy and prosperity. It is a matter of life-and-death importance that everyone who hears this message takes note of the seriousness of the times and turns to God in heartfelt repentance!

To learn more about how Ezekiel and other biblical authors wrote about the radical left’s assault on America’s Judeo-Christian heritage, please read “Communism in America Today,” by Gerald Flurry.