A week ago, a senseless and tragic shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, took the lives of 12 persons and wounded dozens. But instead of discussing what appears to be the gunman’s mental illness, the liberal mainstream media has spent most of its energy trying (to no avail) to use the incident to revive interest in gun control. This effort has utterly failed, with even President Obama refusing to obey the admonitions of some of his journalistic supporters to leverage the bloodshed for an attack on the National Rifle Association (NRA). This has only compounded their frustration, leading them to publish editorials like today’s New York Times jeremiad against the NRA, which rails about the reasons why “Candidates Cower on Gun Control.”
It is possible to make a reasonable argument in favor of some limits on ownership of particularly dangerous weapons though, as Rich Lowry pointed out in a smart opinion piece published on Politico, the gun control solutions favored by liberals would not have prevented alleged Colorado killer James Holmes from carrying out his crime. As Lowry points out, “Even scary looking guns formerly banned by Congress do not go on killing sprees on their own.” But the interesting point to be gleaned from the rehashing of the old debate about guns is not so much whether the NRA’s critics are right but the way they have come to demonize the organization. Leave aside for a moment the merits of their case about guns, and what comes across most clearly is an unwillingness to acknowledge that the NRA’s success is rooted in the nuts and bolts work of political organizing. Like the Walt-Mearsheimer “Israel Lobby” thesis which cannot explain the enormous bipartisan popularity of the State of Israel by means other than a shadowy conspiracy of money and influence peddling, the NRA’s critics need to understand that it succeeds not by intimidation but because most Americans agree with it.
You don’t have to agree with the NRA on its opposition to the assault weapons ban to understand that, contrary to the Times and the numerous other liberal editorial writers and columnists who have sounded the same theme, that its actions are a function of democracy, not an attempt to subvert it. If candidates — even a liberal Democratic incumbent — are loath to take it on, that is not because they are cowards, but because they know the NRA represents a critical mass of American public opinion.
The arguments in favor of gun control are at best questionable (such laws don’t reduce crime) and often a function of a cultural prejudice against firearms. But what’s really wrong with most of what we hear from anti-gun forces is their attempt to delegitimize the NRA. The group’s four million members represent not so much a special interest but a vanguard of a broad sentiment that sees gun ownership as a valid constitutional right. You don’t have to agree with them (though the Supreme Court does when it confirmed in 2008 that the Second Amendment meant what it says when it talks of “the right to bear arms”), but you must respect their right to organize. The NRA’s ability to persuade legislators is, like that of other successful advocates such as AIPAC on behalf of Israel, a reflection of the fact that their views are popular.
If the debate on gun control is to continue — and given the consensus that exists among the public and Congress though not among liberal editorialists against such measures there seems no reason why it should — it should do so without the imprecations of the NRA. If liberals wish to defeat it, they must do so by the force of reason, not by demonizing a legitimate and broad-based activist group.
Because of the shootings in CO, many of us are demanding the government reduce the amount of firearms we people can obtain, saying this will save lives. The Republicans counter saying it will not save lives. Both of these arguments are wrong. The truth is that the right to own firearms is a fundamental political right, part of our Constitution, similar to free speech. Free speech is a political right, not the right to shout "Fire!" in a theater. The Founding Fathers of our country knew that if King George were able to disarm Americans, the American Revolution would not have occurred. This is why it is a political right. n nHere is an example. Obama is pressuring Israel to remove Jews living beyond the 1967 borders. The government of Israel is seriously considering this, doing something like the forceful removal of Jews from Gaza. However, the Israeli government knows that Jews living beyond the 1967 borders are heavily armed, and would use these arms to resist any government action to move them. Therefore the government will not remove Jews, in spite of any pressures from the world. We see that the right to own arms gives Jews the right to live where they choose. The right to live at one's chosen place is a political right. The freedom to own guns gives them this right. n nHere is another example. I clearly remember speaking to Jews who narrowly escaped the Nazi Holocaust. They all said it happened very quickly and was a complete surprise. They said it could happen in America. Since then, I am frightened that the American government may allow massive killings of Jews. The Nazi government was an enlightened government, with a social security program started by Bismarck. Bismarck's ideas were the models upon which our social security program was based. The government outlawed guns. Had the German Jews been able to own guns, they would be alive. n nWhen people talk about the freedom to own guns to be able to hunt, I am offended. This freedom has nothing to do with hunting or a sport or hobby, but the freedom to live, even if an evil government would arise. n nWe must always be aware of the government's desire to remove our freedoms making us less free, using phony arguments. n
When I lived in Texas, my friend Judy assured me that nobody would be able to drag six million Texans into death camps. It was then that I realized the intent of the second amendment and have been anti-gun control ever since. Of course there is a down side as there are with all our rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights. That's why America is called the land of the best and the worst. But I am willing to take my chances.
Jews defying the Israeli government because they have guns … fears of death camps in Texas …. Wow, the gun nuts are crazier than I thought.
Those too stupid to remember history like you are due to repeat it!
Remember history? He can't tell you what happened on this comment board without distorting it.
Dr. Condi Rice tells in her autobiography about life during the civil rights movement in Alabama. The KKK had been infiltrated by the FBI and the FBI had learned that her father’s church was going to be fire bombed. The problem was, the local authorities were Democrats. The KKK had been formed by Democrats after the Civil War as their terrorist wing. Telling the Democrats of the planned terrorist attack would have only exposed the FBI informant. So, they told Condi’s father. He and his friends armed themselves and stood out front to defend their church. THAT is what the 2nd amendment is about!
There is a radical leftist black pastor (I forget his name) who was in a similar situation who organized a rifle club among his congregation, with the NRA's help, getting them surplus M-1 Garands and (I assume) marksmanship instruction in their use, through the NRA.
I hope that Commentary will not go overboard on this one. US laws on hand guns are ridiculous and defy common sense. How many more massacres does it take to convince people that it's high time that the US recognized that worldwide gun control laws are necessary for safety.
Greg, people who are determined to kill people can find a way to do it. Handguns give people a better chance at stopping others from killing them, especially if the intended victim is smaller, weaker, or less agressive than the would-be killer. n nTell me how a handgun ban saved the Tutsis from being butchered by machete wielding Hutus. Tell me how it saved Palestinian Jews from being butchered by Arabs in 1929. Tell me how it would have stopped Timothy McVeigh or Jeffrey Daumer.