When it comes to gun rights and gun control, most Americans are neither capable of nor interested in “reason.” When they hear terms like “assault weapons,” “universal background checks” and “high-capacity magazines” they cannot or will not consider what those terms do and do not mean. Whether it’s due to a lack of interest, education or intellect, both the detail and the wider implications of gun control are all but completely lost on the voting public. For example . . .
In the last presidential debate, Hillary Clinton portrayed the Heller decision as the simple upending of a safe storage law — putting children at risk! — rather than a historic affirmation of Americans’ individual right to keep and bear arms. True to form, reflecting the ignorance of his audience, Mr. Trump failed to take her to task. Post-facto, fact checkers cried, well, whispered, foul. Who heard them?
According to adweek.com, some 22,889,000 Americans sat down and watched NBC, ABC or CBS evening news last week. Did any of the news nets take Ms. Clinton to task for the “I support the Second Amendment but reject the Heller decision” cognitive dissonance? Not on air, no. Equally, how many of the remaining 327 million Americans know anything about Heller or gun rights or what Ms. Clinton’s debate”gaffe” reveals about her lack of respect for the Constitution? Look! Kardashians!
It should come as no surprise to anyone that Hillary “It Takes A Village to Raise a Child” Clinton and her supporters are irredeemably, illogically anti-gun. They define “gun violence” (and every other ill you can name) as a social problem. You know; an epidemic. In which case “gun violence” can only be solved by collective action. More specifically, government intervention. “Gun safety” legislation.
To reject gun control, voters would have to abandon the idea that government is their friend. They’d have to see through the lie that their “friend” is ready, willing and able to protect them and their loved ones from criminals, crazies, terrorists and tyrants. They’d have to understand that the government’s only real loyalty is to itself and accept responsibility for their own safety.
That’s scary stuff! Swallowing the proverbial red pill turns government from a loving caregiver into a sinister manipulator. Red pill takers awake naked and exposed in a world that ain’t that pretty at all. Once they get over the shock, they’re on the road to embracing limited government, personal responsibility and individual liberty. Including gun rights. No wonder Hillary Clinton has such a hard time even paying lip service to gun rights.
Anyway, good luck setting anti-gun voters on the ballistic road to Damascus. Slapping a pro-gun bumper sticker on your car or putting a firearm into a newbie’s hands is a lot easier than convincing an inexperienced anti to man-up and quit trying to protect the defenseless by legislative fiat.
Unfortunately, tens of millions of no- to low-information voters are quickly and easily distracted by the bright shiny objects civilian disarmament jihadis dangle in front of them. Specifically, the empty promise of increased public safety via gun control. I hope we never get to the point where seeing is disbelieving. Where economic collapse or outright tyranny reveals the truth about gun control. But I fear we will.