Ed Avila is the owner of AR15.com. He’s just sold an arsenal of guns and gear in advance of his move from Farmington, NY to Texas. As you know, your humble scribe is in the midst of the same transition. A recent article in New Republic chronicled the whole gun guys goin’ south trend. And it’s true: civilian disarmament laws passed or about to pass in northern slave states have triggered an exodus southwards. I agree with the author’s point: aside from gun scribes (and the employees of gun manufacturers relocating to more firearms-friendly states) the push for disarmament is simply the last straw . . .
Truth be told, conservative-minded Northerners have been fleeing South for decades, escaping their home states’ high taxes, union domination and institutional corruption (leading to fiscal collapse). And now vilification. Check this comment under the New Republic piece:
I’m with Roi — this seems like a great thing for those of us who don’t get a secret thrill in our genitals every time we hold, stroke, caress, a gun. My view is that as long as gun owners shoot other gun owners, I have no problem with gun ownership. It’s when they start shooting those of us who don’t own guns that I object. Come after our lives, we come after your guns. That’s the deal. So, I’d be thrilled if all gun owners moved to Texas, Idaho and Florida. I give them all my word I will never mention the words “gun control” ever again as long as they agree to just shoot each other. One gun owner shooting another gun owner isn’t a tragedy, it’s natural selection.
It occurs to me that Northern gun owners are like Jews fleeing a country ahead of a pogrom. While I hope that the metaphor is ridiculous, I can imagine an anti-gun kristallnacht, where New York State SWAT teams swoop down on “illegal” AR-15 owners in a coordinated “law enforcement action.” One more Newtown and they’re there.
And speaking of mounting anti-gun fervor leading to flashpoint fascism, why did the New Republic author feel obliged to mention that all the gun owners headed south were white? For the same reason he wrote that TTAG makes a million dollars a year (we don’t). To stoke the fires of prejudice.
Mark my words: this will not end well. But at least I’ll be watching from the relative safety of a free state. That’s the theory anyway . . .