You probably know Ladd Everitt as the now-former director of communications for the unhinged fringe anti-gun group, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. They’re the crazier, even-more-hoplophobic cousins that more “respectable” anti-RKBA groups like Everytown and the fading Brady Campaign don’t talk about much.
Or that’s how the CSGV was while Everitt was there. He’s now the director of something called One Pulse For America (an anti-gun group “dedicated to closing the ‘Passion Gap’ with pro-gun activists”), founded by George Takei after the Orlando nightclub terrorist massacre, that operates without a working website. Hey, no one says bootstrapping social change is easy, amirite?
Anyway, Everitt published a recent open letter to the throngs of America’s liberal progressive gun owners, now that we’re living in an age of concentration camps, gulags and forced re-education centers here in what was once known as the US of A.
I get it. I do. Really. We are living in scary times. The Trump administration is the most authoritarian in United States history (by a long shot) and has repeatedly demonstrated its contempt for democratic institutions. We have a president who openly encourages “Second Amendment people” to engage in violence against his political opponents on the left. The federal government, which has stepped in so often in the past to vindicate the civil rights of Americans under attack by state governments, cannot be counted on in this era of corrupt, treasonous government by the Republican Party.
Woohoo! You have to consider it (at least a little), uh, progress when a dedicated gun-hater like Everitt has finally noticed that the Second Amendment applies to all Americans. That the Founders wrote the 2A as a bulwark against (left- or right-leaning) government tyranny, ensuring our rights no matter what a gun owner’s political leanings may be. Right? Didn’t they?
Well, no. Not if you’re a right-thinking progressive, according to Everitt.
And it’s not because he’s opposed to violence, either.
Oh, and don’t worry, I am not writing this to ask you to commit to nonviolence. If you believe violence can be conquered with violence, so be it. I won’t bore you with some of my favorite quotes by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Ladd’s just fine with you cracking some heads at your next Antifa or Black Lives Matter rally. He’d just prefer that you commit any crimes you feel are justified using something other than a gun.
Why? Two reasons, really. First, he dutifully spouts the oft-debunked “fact” that those with guns in their homes are more likely to have them used against them than to need them to fight off any Confederate flag-waiving Trumpers who may attack them.
But that’s not really the main reason he doesn’t want his progressive brethren (and sistren…there’s no sexism up in here) from buying firearms. See, Everitt’s a big picture kinda guy. Here’s the real problem he has with lefties procuring firearms:
You cannot buy guns and ammunition without supporting the National Rifle Association and its white supremacist, homophobic agenda.
Every time you buy a firearm, ammunition, or some other product made by a gun company, you are helping the NRA’s bottom line.
He rightly points out that because of the NRA’s corporate partners program, most large firearms manufacturers like Smith & Wesson, Ruger, Benelli and GLOCK, to name a few, send a portion of their proceeds to support the lobbying arm of America’s Most-Hated Civil Rights Organization.
Wait…that may all be true, but he should be OK with liberals choosing to avail themselves of their Second Amendment rights by buying used firearms, right? None of those dollars would find their way to Fairfax.
Nope. That won’t work, either. Progressives who buy used guns would still have to purchase ammo, holsters and cleaning supplies. And retailers like Cabelas and Midway send hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to the NRA, too. D’oh!
Plus, there’s this: even lefty gun owners have to shoot their guns occasionally to keep up their skills…don’t they?
For example, do you practice at a shooting range? If so, you might want to ask the range if they are affiliated with the NRA. Many ranges give a cut of their profits to the NRA in return for free targets, a listing in the NRA’s shooting range guide, the opportunity to host regional shooting matches, etc.
It’s all just too much for a socially conscious progressive to deal with.
The NRA’s financial ties to the gun industry are so deep and symbiotic at this point, that it’s probably impossible to reverse them. If there’s a way to be a gun industry customer without feeding racism, homophobia and regressive politics in this country, I don’t know what it is.
All of which leads Ladd to one, inescapable conclusion:
You simply can’t be a racial justice advocate, or an LGBTQ rights activist, or a dye-in-the-wool progressive and say that your gun/ammo purchases do nothing to detract from the America you are trying to build.
So there you have it. No matter how progressive and woke you may think you are, if you spend so much as a single samolian on ammo or a bottle of Hoppe’s No. 9, you are — to some degree — a racist, homophobic white supremacist.
Ruh roh. That still leaves the problem of liberals needing to defend themselves. If their Second Amendment freedoms have been so thoroughly coopted by the hated NRA that any use of firearms is out, how is a lefty supposed to protect his or her life and that of their family?
No worries. Ladd has that all figured out.
Home safety can be ensured by installing deadbolt locks on doors, purchasing a home alarm system, adopting a dog, securing sliding doors and windows, participating in a Neighborhood Watch Program, or getting a free home security evaluation from your local police department, to name just a few options. Safety in public can be ensured by carrying a cell phone with you at all times, parking only in well-lit areas, avoiding ATMs at night, eschewing the use of headphones, taking a self-defense class in martial arts, etc.
The thing is, armed criminals are seldom deterred by Neighborhood Watch signs or the knowledge that the headphone-free woman they’re about to attack is carrying a cell phone.
Come to think of it, Everitt probably should have advised his progressive readers to scrape those ‘Feel The Bern’ and ‘I’m With Her’ stickers off the bumpers of their Subarus. Because if enough lefties follow his advice and the bad guys read his open letter too, all of that conspicuous virtue signaling will only serve as convenient “HEY, ROB ME!” invitations for the criminal element.
Think about it. Your life, and the lives of those you care about, could be at stake.
We “Second Amendment people” couldn’t have said it better ourselves.