Are you the kind of gun owner who thinks raising the age for gun ownership is a good idea? Do you slap your jodhpurs and tell anyone who will listen that no one hunts with an AR-15, (and no one should hunt with a semi-automatic shotgun)? Are you OK with outlawing private gun sales and on board with due-process-free red flag laws?
Then you’re in luck! There’s a brand new gun safety control organization being born and they’d really like to count you as a member.
From the admiring New York Times . . .
On Thursday, two days before the 20th anniversary of the mass shooting at Columbine High School, former Representative Gabrielle Giffords went to Minnesota to announce the creation of a gun safety advocacy group.
The group’s agenda is predictable: It will lobby for universal background checks and an extreme risk protection law, which would allow the temporary confiscation of guns from people believed to pose an imminent threat to themselves or others.
Its composition is not: The members are all gun owners.
Gabby’s going from state to state, starting up new gun control front groups under the Giffords umbrella that are designed to attract gun owners who are totally on board with, well, “common-sense” gun control. There are two of them so far, one in Colorado and another in Minnesota.
They’re designed for firearms owners who “are deeply troubled by the frequency of gun-related deaths in our country. We are committed to supporting sound and reasonable regulations that serve the safety of the citizens of Minnesota and remain consistent with the liberties afforded by the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution.”
Giffords — or, more likely, one of the organization’s PR flacks — gave an email interview to the Times that contains this gem:
There is a big disconnect between the specific policies you’re pushing for, which are popular, and the “take your guns away” agenda that some opponents think you’re pushing for. People have been trying to bridge that gap for years, but it hasn’t gone away. What do you need to do differently?
That’s what makes Minnesota Gun Owners for Safety, and groups like it, so important. I can’t think of a better way to fix that disconnect than to show how in reality, people that love to hunt or have firearms at home for protection are also in favor of improving the background check system. Or keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers.
More and more people are responding to gun violence as a personal issue. They don’t want to see their neighbors or their family or friends get shot. People are pushing back against the false notion that any action to pass laws results in less freedom. In fact, it can bring us more.
Yes, and ignorance is strength and Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.
Anyway, if you’re the kind of gun owner who thinks the Second Amendment doesn’t really mean what it says, people like Gabby and Matt Pierce, below, will be only too glad to have you.
The vast majority of Americans support gun safety laws—including gun owners.
Matt Pierce helped launch our new coalition, Minnesota Gun Owners for Safety. Listen to what he has to say ⬇ https://t.co/78L1AyUP2T pic.twitter.com/dGpxvJZ09h
— Giffords (@GiffordsCourage) April 18, 2019
Just remember…no one really wants to take away your guns.