“What gun control measures do you support?” the Arise TV interviewer demanded. “None,” I said. And there you have it. I don’t support any background checks for firearms purchases. I didn’t before Newtown. I don’t now. Most Americans do. Most Americans believe that a gun dealer should check an FBI database to see if the government should “allow” someone to buy a gun. That’s “common sense.” Just as most Americans once believed that the white man was superior to the black man . . .
That too was considered “common sense.” What changed that deeply held racist belief, to the point where white men were prepared to fight and die to eliminate the evils of slavery?
The same thing the gun control advocates are now using to convince Americans that violating the privacy of their medical records and banning an entire class of weapons and the ammunition magazines that make them effective is in their best interest.
Emotion.
It’s doubtful that the North would have entered into a war of emancipation without the phenomenal success of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s tale of Eliza’s escape from slavery was the best-selling novel of the 19th century, at a time when books were mass media. It made slavery “real.” It moved men’s hearts.
Just as the Sandy Hook spree killing moved a nation—and opened the door to civilian disarmament.
It’s time to face facts: the “debate” over gun control is not about facts. It’s about emotion. It’s about twenty murdered children lying on the blood-stained floor of an elementary school. Without their grisly, horrific, unconscionable death the gun control industry wouldn’t have squat. Nothing. Nada. And they know it.
Which is why they will be waving the bloody shirt with gusto over the next week. The White House’s decision to “turn over” the President’s weekly address to the parents of a child cut down at Newtown is only the latest gambit in an ongoing, increasingly hysterical campaign to overwhelm reason with emotion.
You’re going to see images of the Sandy Hook slaughter. You’re going to hear new details of the killing, in sickening detail. You’re going to see Colin Goddard, Gabrielle Giffords and other spree killing survivors telling their stories and calling for gun control with Jim Jonesian fervor.
And it just might work. Not only because Americans are “low information” voters who don’t have the time, inclination or analytical skills needed to separate fact from fiction, liberty from lies, Constitution preservation from statist propaganda. But also because Americans are deeply caring, loving people.
They feel for the parents at Sandy Hook. They want to do something in the name of the slaughtered children. No, strike that. Many maybe even most (but not all) Americans feel that not doing something would be wrong. And so they’re empowering the President and his gun control henchmen to “do the right thing.” Whatever that is.
What can gun owners do to counter the wave of emotion harnessed by civilian disarmament proponents, a wave that could sweep away their Constitutionally protected (in theory) right to keep and bear arms? What emotional rescue is available for besieged gun rights advocates?
None.
Sorry, but I can’t think of anything gun rights advocates could say or do to put the Sandy Hook spree killing into its proper perspective. I’ve called for the NRA to launch an immediate ad blitz featuring defensive gun uses. I’ve lobbied the GOA to create a similar sort of “I survived”-style media package. By now, it would be too little too late.
That said, there is one thing that can move a nation in the opposite direction: a government massacre. If the feds or a state’s police create another Ruby Ridge or Waco, where innocent Americans are slaughtered by their own government, if the Internet is “allowed” to report it, if the public sees exactly what an American police state looks like, the tide will turn.
Maybe.
Make no mistake: I don’t want it to happen. I pray to God it doesn’t. But I know it will. Not now. But eventually. If the government turns millions of American gun owners into criminals, how else can this play out?
I just hope gun owners can head this push for disarmament off at the pass. And if not that, if worst comes to worst, I hope that it’s not too late for a peaceful return to the values that Americans hold dear. Whether they know it or not.
Can someone tell me the correct scope rings to get that will work with my Big Boy. 44mag and a scope that has a 1″ tube? I have purchased 3 different sets of rings that supposed fit a #50 weaver style mount and I can’t get them to tighten up. Help!
I bought a Nikon Buckmasters 3-9×50 scope and from my LGD and he sold me Pro Mag PM128D – 1″ Tactical .500 Height Steel Rings (42mm-52mm) Objective Lens that tighten up on the Henry factory rail.
http://www.promagindustries.com/product-p/pm128d.htm
They were 40 bucks and have thumb screws for easy on and off. I have a BB .44 Mag and a .357 Mag and intend to use the scope on both. The rings are heavy and NOT flimsy.
The problem with “low information voters” is they really don’t care about gun control. This is a case of the squeaky wheel getting the grease. We need to remain squeaky. We need to let our voices be heard loud and clear. Start here, a page with links to the e-mail contact info of every senator with a B or higher NRA rating. Let them know we won’t stand for any more gun control. let the know that our money is going to the opponent of anyone who votes for more gun control.
http://www.shotmonster.com/senators.html
I saw this poor woman today and the others on 60 minutes, and they almost had me crying. I really feel bad for these parents and I don’t know how they’re able to get on with their lives. A few of them say that even if the new laws wouldn’t have stopped the shooter that something still needs to be done. I know that some of the parents are pro gun, but they aren’t given the chance to speak out about how they feel. We’ll never get them to understand that criminals don’t obey our silly laws, and that these evil scum will always get a gun no matter what stupid laws are passed.
SIXTY MINUTES? When did that start showing on Saturday? Are you sure it was today?
Little known fact…Joe’s SS detail secretly replaced all of the vice president’s 00 buck and birdshot shells with special “party popper” shells that shoot confetti and streamers. They determined Joe to be a danger to himself and others, plus the neighborhood girl scout troop had their upcoming cookie drive and they did not want Joe shooting at them through the door.
Ever since Texas received it’s own Formula 1 track, it’s been really hard to resist moving down there.
What makes him better than the prairie dog?
Hope he lived his last few moments in complete bliss followed by sudden and extreme shock and pain.
How about…
https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2012/01/daniel-zimmerman/chris-wilden-saves-three-kids-with-his-gun/
https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2012/01/daniel-zimmerman/chris-wilden-saves-three-kids-with-his-gun/
https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2012/12/robert-farago/armed-fathers-protect-jewish-elementary-school-not-shown/
http://foxnewsinsider.com/2013/02/18/interview-suzanna-hupp-survivor-of-lubys-mass-shooting-argues-against-gun-control-saying-texas-gun-law-left-her-defenseless/
There are some very thoughtful comments here, and it is encouraging to see some folks that think some compromise might be in order. To be honest, I do not own a gun, but I have certainly handled and fired many over the years, including a tour in the Air Force.
Requiring a background check in order to keep firearms out of the reach of imbalanced people should be a priority in this country. But in order to do that, a persons medical history has to be made available to the government entity performing the check. Well, that goes against our existing privacy laws, and most will not be in favor of a change like that.
Disarming the American public, while extremely unpopular, is also completely unrealistic, and I think most people would agree. But making it harder to purchase a firearm for those who have mental illness issues should be a priority. And don’t say the criminals will ignore the law – of course they will. But how many mass shooters were already criminals? How many of them had served time or been convicted of felonies? Until they committed their horrible acts, they were technically law abiding citizens.
You haven’t convinced me of jack$hit John. Not one inch to the grabbers. Not one inch.
100
I’m also a law abiding citizen with no criminal record. I’ve been prescribed antidepressants in the past. Do I then have “mental health issues”? Should I be forbidden my right to self-defense for all time now? Should I dread ever seeking psychiatric assistance again over that uncertainty?
Based on the anonymous whim of a bureaucrat?
Based on you feeling bad about the acts of a (literal) 1-in-100-million crazy?
Well, yes, you do. . . or, rather, did have mental health issues. No, you shouldn’t be forbidden the right to self defense–IF you have been examined by a mental-health professional and declared to be no longer subject to depression to the extent of needing medication for it.
Yes, you should (in our current climate) dread seeking psychiatric assistance again. If you want to keep your right to firearms, you had best avoid any implication of mental illness.
And, yes, the whole thing is a mess. When do-gooders legislate about things they know nothing about, they will not differentiate any more clearly between deep psychosis and mild depression than they do between machine guns and ‘assault weapons.’
John: My rights don’t begin where your feelings end. Just because you’ve been swayed by the propaganda and failed to see this legislation for the Trojan Horse that it is, doesn’t mean that others on here will cave to your inane shilling.
So far, with 17 laps to go, the ONLY mention of the NRA that I’ve noticed was when Karl Malone issued the command to start your engines.
I am both the pilot, and if i really get to enjoy myself, the shooter. I assure everyone it is extremely safe and very sportsman like. I spend more time on the ground training the shooters as well as being trained with them before our heli skids ever leave earth’s surface. In fact the majority of our time by far is spent training on the ground. Even in flight it is all about safety and all about technique. We make a point of showing the shooters the damage the hogs do while we fly over (which you only get a hint of from the ground. The landowners love the work we do.
As for sporting, i have blind hunted, stalked, and shot pigs about every way possible, and i assure you heli hogging is not easy. The average shooter misses 90% from a helicopter using an AR rifle variant, hence the use of more humane OO buck 12ga…
Its all about safety and population control. It’s fun, we make a massive difference, and it is work. Hard work.God bless Texas!
Graphic on screen:
Winner of the Texas 500: Kyle Busch
I saw a few snippets of this woman and I felt sympathy for her loss and pain. I also felt revulsion that her words were just emotional parroting of the same lies and distortions based on emotionalism and devoid of any logical reasoning. The “gun control ” prohibitions being advanced in Congress and in the States (many enacted) since Newtown and the Gun Rights Infringement Laws already on the books are roughly analogous to Banning the Right of Free Speech just because some yahoos yelled “Fire!” in several different crowded theaters and people got killed in the ensuing panics. If you are trampled to death or permanently injured in a stampede it’s no different than being shot to death or permanently injured in gun-involved crime. Rights are more precious to Human Freedom than lives lost because of insane criminal activity. Like the Poor, Criminals will always be with us. The Laws that infringe upon our Rights to own effective means of Self-Defense only enable the Criminals to kill us as they please, when they please. for whatever reason they please, and that includes children in schools. Emotion based pleas to further Infringe on our Second Amendment Rights (and I mean every American Citizen irregardless of their choice to own firearms or not) are a dismissal reason and logic and should be discarded as any semblance of “common sense” discussion. This emotion based dislogic has got to be called out for the useless crap it is.
I lost any and all empathy for the Newtown parents and other afflicted when they allowed themselves to be used by these charlatans in order to wipe their shoes on the Constitution. FOAD.
Call me an evil heartless bastard all you want, but your “grief” is soulless, false and self-serving the moment you appear on TV to shove a fear-based political agenda down the country’s throat.
Does this AR make my thighs look big?
I went to replay and Malone did say NRA.
These emotion based pleas for more “Gun Control Laws” are useless crap and need to be called-out, as such. The Right to defend your family and yourself is more important than the few lives lost by Criminal activity. That’s harsh, but true. Those lives lost in Newtown could have been saved by armed Teachers or Administrators.
For lockdown, a public high school teacher I know has to herd her students across the hall to another classroom. Why? Because her classroom doesn’t have a lock. Of course, “A lock for every classroom” wasn’t a preexisting policy goal of any political group in the US.
This woman suffered a horrible loss, but that’s no reason WE THE PEOPLE should have our rights taken. There is nothing common sense about what the dems want. They say we don’t want to take your guns, yet in New York, they have already illegally done that, and their law hasn’t even been on the books 3 months. Just as the dems have said, “never let a tragedy go to waste”. We must hold our govts feet to the fire, esp the 16 republicans who voted yes to move this crap forward.
I have watched enough NASCAR races to know that this was a Very deliberate COS.
Never has the main sponsor of the race been spoken of so little by ANY major broadcast network.
Seems like when NRA was mentioned, it was at the more local track level and ‘leaked’ on air. You can’t control Carl Malone, but you can control your
announcers and all your fancy graphics.
Hell if the sponsor was Trojans they would have had the logo bannering the on screen leaderboard, announcers would have been making balloon animals with them in their mid race reports, and would have had a CG Trojan guy riding a horse at every commercial segway.
Its as if even mentioning a gun is a bad word these days. Sad times we live in.
If ‘We The People’ want to preserve our rights, especially the 1A and 2A, we can only do so by exercising them fully, and immediately.
Americans are only a heartbeat away from slavery.
Act now, or never act.
I’ll repeat that: THE DOOR WAS UNLOCKED DURING THE LOCKDOWN. The professor was sitting in a chair in front of a glass door, just hanging out.
I put the relevant part in bold. You have glass – freaking – doors in your school. What do you think that will do to stop someone who wants to shoot people? NOTHING. They will simply follow Hans Gruber’s advice and shoot the glass. Locking a glass door to keep out a shooter is like putting on sunscreen to protect you from an erupting volcano.
My kids school has the glass doors as well.Locking will only slow a killer down.They don’t even need a gun to get past that locked glass door.Yet, the golden rule of my child’s school is :lock the door,stay out of sight,and the teacher will call for help.
We should be passing laws that require school staff to take courses in dealing with potential threats.Most people freeze in place,or they run away.Those who are charged with the responsibility of our childrens lives need to be doing better.Staff that blow off these potential threat situations(like the above one did) should be fired.
Connor, you need to send that in a letter to the OpEd desk at several news papers…maybe, just may be it will get picked up by one or two…or best case, go viral….
Hey,I bought these a year ago. Used them regularly,and did a few training classes. While they can’t be compared to top end muffs,these are the best in the budget price range. Highly recomended while you starting out or saving up for something better.
I admit laughing at it…. especially the part where they admit that this law would accomplish exactly nothing.
Hope your Tetanus Booster was up to date before having to expose yourself to SNL’s Garbage, but you’re right…it wasn’t too bad for them. I’m betting they thought it was more satirical than it came off as, or they hired a temporary sketch writer who fooled them. Anyway the depiction of the buffoons in Congress was pretty accurate, as was the depiction of the buffoon who occupies the White House (currently closed to the School Children and People to whom it actually belongs).
I’ll say it…. bombshell on the NRA, but yet gun owners still come out ahead. The heads of NRA fan boys all over the country are exploding right now.
In Seattle, umbrellas are often the mark of the tourist or new resident. Natives or long time residents will usually shun them as a waste of time and turn instead to waterproof clothing. One less thing to carry around.
I might start if I could get one in 300BLK, though.
Im sorry, it this were the work of a 2A gun nut, wouldnt they have used the follow up of massive gun fire of an AR15?
Browning Maxus Sporting Shotgun. Fine looking i’d say.