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Tim McNabb’s recent article Occupy St. Louis and The Second Amendment revealed that many of the “be-in’s” participants supported the Second Amendment. Underneath the post, TTAG commentator Eliotte questioned the reliability of the anecdotal evidence. “I’d like to see similar responses from different areas of the country, I think you might get a different response from DC or NYC or San Francisco.” Real life and an editorial budget that resembles couch change prevented me from pursuing the question in those conurbations. But when I saw Occupy Providence’s tent city, I decided to add some more data to the sample. It wasn’t anything scientific, mind you (as Mr. Wills cautions above), but the fact that ten out of ten interviewees were pro-2A raises some interesting questions. Such as . . .
Can you be pro-2A/anti-police state and pro-socialism? Wait. Back up. Are the Occupy volk pro-socialism or anti pro-capitalism?
I’m seriously confused about this movement. Unlike the Tea Partiers—whose anti-tax- and-spend agenda was clear—the Occupiers represent a large number of causes: opposing America’s military involvement in Afghanistan and the Middle East, railing against rapacious banks and their federal enablers, and a bunch of other stuff.
To my jaundiced eye, all of their complaints have a decidedly leftist bent. And yet the protesters are largely, in some cases vociferously, pro-Second Amendment. It makes me wonder where liberalism ends and libertarianism begins. And how the media missed this element.
I guess it’s true: you see what you want to see. I want to see a broad coalition of American lobbying for a vastly smaller government [sic]. I’d like to see more citizens deeply committed to individual responsibility and genuinely free markets. Can you be for one and not the other? I doubt it.
As I said, the Occupy movement is a conundrum wrapped in a puzzle surrounded by people looking for a party—but not Republicans or Democrats. And the most interesting aspect of their transcendental 2A support is this: none of the interviewees actually owned or carried a gun.
As always, actions speak louder than words. Meanwhile, it’s time for the NRA and their ultra-conservative gun owners to re-think their knee-jerk opposition to the Occupy movement. In fact, one of the Providence protesters proudly proclaimed that she’s a “card-carrying” lifetime NRA member. How about that?
[NB: This post was taken off-line and re-written since it’s original publication.]