The Hill, via an op-ed from Courtney La Bau, attempts to set the table for the upcoming Congressional push for gun control with the piece, “Let’s tackle mass shootings like we do terrorism.” From the piece’s very first sentence, the “counterterrorism expert” uses fake news to support her argument for heaping ever more failed gun control laws upon law-abiding Americans.
The agitprop begins at the beginning:
Mass shootings are a uniquely American tragedy.
Demonstrably false. Not only are mass shootings not “uniquely American,” but literally 99% of them happen outside of the USA. That’s right: the mass shootings that happen in America account for only 1% of the total world-wide.
The rate of mass shootings in America is also below the global average. Additionally, only two of the 25 worst globally happened in America. Or only eight of the worst 68.
Seeing that first sentence, I did some cursory sleuthing on Courtney La Bau. Her claim about mass shootings in America wasn’t the first time she’d been wrong.
Our next POTUS. @HillaryClinton #USElections2016 pic.twitter.com/XSFKdRmFZ7
— Courtney La Bau (@courtneylabau) May 11, 2016
Yes, I laughed out loud, too. But Ms. La Bau is just getting warmed up.
I have worked in the extremism and counterterrorism space for a long time, as a federal contractor for the Department of Homeland Security and as a national security expert for several think tanks around the world…
At least she doesn’t claim she’s a gun owner, therefore making her an expert on the efficacy of gun control laws. However . . .
I have sought to understand the nuances of violent hate whether it manifests in an ISIS-inspired bombing in Sri Lanka or a white supremacy-driven shooting in El Paso.
What I have seen is a common narrative: hatred, the notion of superiority and cleansing, and mobilization to violence in the name of an ideology. But in the United States, we’ve chosen to fight back a lot harder against the kinds of violent extremism perpetrated by foreigners or those with a certain color of skin. We created a vast toolkit to counter al Qaeda and ISIS, but we do nothing to prevent these homegrown extremists who happen to be white from accessing weapons of mass destruction in our country.
And what — according to most on the left — constitutes a “homegrown extremist?” Anyone who disagrees with them. So La Bau’s definition of white homegrown extremists would could expand to almost any American gun owner.
And what do you think the odds are that America’s favorite rifle, the AR-15, would fall under her definition of ‘weapon of mass destruction’?
Though the radicalization process might be the same across the extremism spectrum, the numbers do not lie. The Center on Extremism released statistics showing that 73 percent of extremist-related murders in the U.S. over the last 10 years (through 2018) were committed by right-wing domestic extremists.
The Center for Extremism might best be considered a twin of the Southern Poverty Law Center in terms of baseless claims, fake research and junk science. But the title sounds impressive to people who don’t know any better. Really, the only difference between the two orgs is that the Anti-Defamation League’s Center for Extremism didn’t spend over $3 million to settle a lawsuit for…wait for it…defamation last year.
La Bau continues:
You cannot argue with the data here…
Argue with it? She must have gotten her data from the same place as nationally-renowned security contractor and think tank expert Rosanna Arquette. The data are garbage. As are her proposed solutions (more gun control).
But she hits the “white supremacist” buzzword Democrats are pushing so hard now with reckless abandon. After all, labeling anyone to the right of Bernie Sanders “racists,” “Nazis,” or “fascists” has begun to lose its zing on today’s Internet after two-and-a-half years of radical leftist vitriol hurled at President Trump and his deplorable supporters.
If we just pass more gun control measures, these mass shootings by right wing racist, sexist white people who are so full of hate will stop.
As a national security expert, my hope and prayer is that our leaders will put political considerations aside and do what is right — bring the two gun safety bills that the House passed earlier this year back to the Senate floor.
My hope is that the rhetoric from the top will be filled with tolerance, hope and inclusivity — because words matter. No one in this country should live in fear because of the color of their skin, the language they speak or the country they immigrated from.
Unless you voted the wrong way.
Robert Francis O’Rourke announces that if he’s elected he is going to confiscate your guns:
Reporter: How do you address fears that the government is going to confiscate people’s semi-auto firearms?
O’Rourke: “I want to be really clear, that’s exactly what we are going to do” pic.twitter.com/IQxIkhM1Yj
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) September 1, 2019
Gun owners, a large majority of whom are Trump supporters, will have lots to fear. No doubt people like Courtney La Bau won’t care a whit. Instead, she would probably you have it coming for all of the injustices she thinks you and your ancestors have committed since our nation’s founding.