You might think that the gunman who opened fire at the Ft. Lauderdale airport was to blame for the ensuing death and destruction. And you’d be right, of course. But then you aren’t hell-bent on disarming Americans in the name of safety. Shannon Watts is. But the interesting thing here . . .
is that Ms. Watts says that innocent Americans were “forced to stand up to gunman.” They did no such thing. As soon as the bullets started flying the arriving passengers hit the deck. They had no way to “stand up” to the killer, to take him on, because they were disarmed. As were the people greeting them at baggage claim.
More than that, how does Ms. Watts connect the dots between the killer’s rampage and the NRA’s support for Americans’ natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms? How are they responsible? What law, exactly, did the NRA create or oppose that enabled the shooter to rampage?
I suppose Ms. Watts could argue that the NRA opposes laws which disarm people who have not been convicted of a felony offense or adjudicated to be mentally incapacitated. That the killer should have been disarmed and placed on the “No Fly” list because he said some crazy things to the FBI and stood accused of domestic violence.
And if a lowered standard along these lines removed the gun rights of millions of Americans who would never go postal, so be it. Safety first! And if that kept lowering the standard until all Americans were disarmed — except for the police, charged with enforcing the ban — well, why not? Bad things wouldn’t happen!
Only they would. But no amount of evidence or rational thought will ever convince Ms. Watts of that simple truth. To paraphrase Nenia Campbell, Ms. Watts hungers in earnest for that which we cannot consume.