TTAG Daily Digest: Learning Gun Basics, Pushing Back From Texas and Gun Control Is the Wrong Direction

If You’re Trying To Ban Guns, The Least You Can Do Is Learn The Basics – Why bother? If it’s a gun, it’s bad. Period.

How dare Second Amendment advocates expect that those passionately arguing to limit their constitutional rights might have some rudimentary knowledge of the devices they want to ban? To point out the constant glaring technical and policy “faux pas” of gun controllers is to engage in “gunsplaining,” a bad-faith argument akin to intimidation.

“If you don’t know what the ‘AR’ in AR-15 stands for, you don’t get to talk” explains the sarcastic subhead. If you don’t know what the “AR” in AR-15 stands (for) you still get to talk. But if you want to ban or confiscate AR-15s and you haven’t taken the time to learn what the AR stands for, then gun owners have every right to call you out.

In this American town, guns are required by law – Freedom to keep and bear arms but no freedom not to keep and bear arms? Go figure . . .

“The first thing that most people say when they meet us, you know as a community is ‘oh, it’s not what I expected,'” said Mayor Easterling. “I don’t know what they expect of people who arm themselves with guns at home, or what they’re looking for, but really we’re not that.”

“People kind of get the image that it’s the Wild West, where everybody walks around with a firearm strapped to their side, and it’s not like that,” Arnold said. “It’s strictly a home defense system type of deal. There’s no shootouts down the street.”

Ted Cruz, John Cornyn push back against calls for gun control — If not in Texas, where?

Amid a growing clamor for action to address a rash of mass shootings, Sen. Ted Cruz pushed back hard Tuesday against demands for restrictions on assault weapons, calling instead for a fresh look at a bill aimed at keeping guns away from criminals.

“If the objective is to stop violent crime, we should focus on stopping the violent criminals and rapists and murderers,” he said in a call with reporters as Texans go to the polls on primary day. “Texans want to stop the criminals. Texans do not want Washington politicians disarming law-abiding citizens.”

Father who lost child in Parkland massacre: Survivors’ gun control efforts go ‘in the wrong direction’ – Gee, we haven’t seen Andrew Pollack featured in the media nearly as much as David Hogg. For some reason.

The father, who gained notoriety of his own when he told President Donald Trump he is “pissed” that school shootings continue to happen and has since expressed support for Trump’s suggestion that teachers be armed, then gave the students some advice.

“I want them to focus their energy on something that’s achievable right now. Be productive in the country. Work with us. Let’s make these schools safe and once every school is safe in America, do what you have to with the gun laws,” he said.

Gov. Bevin Responds to Alleged Hypocrisy – Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin on the cultural roots of America’s “gun violence” problem.

Want Gun Control Laws? Forget Congress. – The states are where the bump fire stock bans, gun violence restraining orders, age restrictions, magazine limits and “assault weapons” bans will happen. Author Cody Jacobs thinks ballot initiatives are the way to push the gun control ball forward.

Here’s why ballot initiatives are the way to go: On some political issues, conventional wisdom about what is possible is particularly slow to catch up to changes in public opinion. A good example is marijuana policy. Majorities, or at least large minorities, of the American public have favored recreational marijuana legalization for a decade, but only recently have mainstream politicians finally begun to get behind legalization. How did marijuana legalization go from being a fringe position to one backed by ambitious national politicians? Marijuana proved it could win at the ballot box.

By bypassing the legislative process and taking the case directly to the people through statewide ballot initiatives, marijuana legalization advocates won major victories. Those victories had both a huge policy impact—one-fifth of Americans now live in states in which recreational marijuana use is legal—and a major political impact in driving cautious politicians to realize that marijuana could be a winning issue.

Steven Crowder went back to UT-Dallas. And it’s everything you’d expect it to be.