“Ron Pinciaro, executive director of Connecticut Against Gun Violence [CAGV], said the 4,500 members of his group are not ‘gun grabbers,’ as opponents of their work might characterize them, but rather advocates for keeping guns out of the hands of illegal owners and for safeguarding guns in the home.” Bullshit. In fact, the article at waterford.patch.com isn’t a tissue of lies. It’s a full-size box of untruthfulness Kleenex. Or something like that. Or something like this . . .
The problem in making headway toward that end is the politics of gun violence, resulting in an imbalance between those who support gun reform and those who don’t, namely the National Rifle Association, a powerful lobbying organization, Pinciaro told members of the League of Women Voters of Southeastern Connecticut at their annual meeting last week. (As a matter of disclosure, the writer is a board member of the local League.)
Wait. What? Author Rosanne Smyle‘s [above] affiliation with the League of Women Voters shouldn’t be a problem right? I mean, they’re a league. Of women voters. Surely they’re open-minded on the subject, right? As if. By the Treasure Hunt columnist’s own admission, the League is in league with the CAGV on gun control.
The League, which comprises 18 towns in the region, is a non-partisan organization open to all and is part of the U.S. League of Women Voters, which believes the proliferation of handguns and semi-automatic assault weapons is a major health and safety threat to its citizens. The national League supports strong federal measures to limit the accessibility and regulate the ownership of these weapons by private citizens and supports regulating firearms for consumer safety.
Sounds like a recipe for deep-frying the Second Amendment to me. You might even say (based on their rhetoric and record) that the CAGV and the League are all in favor of “grabbing” guns before they get to owners; which still counts as grabbing in my book.
Anyway, what follows is a simple regurgitation of the same old gun control myths and misdirections by Mr. Pinciaro, a camera-shy “community organizer” who learned a thing or two about sales and marketing whilst flogging lingerie.
I could say something clever here about selling underwear and Pinciaro’s current job advertising the Emperor’s new clothes. Suffice it to say, the CAGV haven’t had a new line in a decade.
For example, the CAGV and its camp followers (and I don’t mean members who watch the old Batman TV show) are still trotting-out that old “the Second Amendment was for militias not citizens” outfit—despite the Supreme Court’s definitive rulings on the subject establishing that 2A was made for you and me. To wit:
One of the main reasons for this [misguided] passion to own guns is the change in interpretation over the years of the Second Amendment, a simple amendment that has proven to be a complicated and difficult concept.
The amendment reads: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”The controversy rises in the interpretation of the amendment’s wording and whether it means continuing state militias for defense or giving individuals the right to own firearms.
Oh FFS. Can you change the subject please? Yes we can!
Pinciaro said he could not pinpoint when gun ownership became such a hot-button cultural issue, but he said despite all of that passion, gun ownership is going down. It peaked in 1977 when 54 percent of American households had a gun. In 2010, that percentage decreased to 32.3 percent, the lowest level recorded by the independent General Social Survey by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. In Connecticut, 16.2 percent of households have guns now.
“The gun culture ultimately is fading way,” he said. “There is hope—I’m not sure it will happen in my lifetime.”
The problem remains with the number of illegal guns available and the lack of previous, but now underfunded, tracking methods, that foster countless, senseless gun deaths.
OK, two things and then I’m done. First, the American “gun culture” is based on our God-given right to self-defense, not (as implied) a mindless love of firearms (mine is mindful). Second, if you’re against “illegal guns” you must be for the enforcement of existing firearms laws. A police and judicial crackdown on criminal firearms possession achieves the called-for reduction in firearms-related deaths.
So . . . if you take the gun grabbing away from the gun grabbers, they’re grabbing at straws. And lying through their teeth. Except when they’re not.
Why have pro-gun lobbying efforts been so successful? “The answer is follow the money,” Pinciaro said. “… The NRA is a trade organization and they control the Congress.”
The NRA operates with a $400 million annual budget, while CAGV and other like-minded groups, combined, work with $30 million, he said.
“That makes it very difficult. Plus they are very organized and they are very passionate,” Pinciaro said. “Our supporters are not motivated like they are.”
And thank God for that.