Buckeye, AZ --(
Ammoland.com)- A recent story from the AP gives a pretty clear outline of some of the threats liberty will face this year.
The piece includes extensive quotes from leading hoplophobes and anti-rights organizations, and provides an edifying look into their strategy for the coming year. The antis boast about the tens of millions of dollars and thousands of paid staff and volunteers they are lining up to push their agenda in the run-up to the 2014 elections. We can only hope that they are successful at forcing another vote or two in Congress and the 15 or so states that they are targeting with their effort, because nothing turns out GunVoters better, and distinguishes political friends and foes more clearly than a noisy anti-rights campaign and politicians taking record votes on gun control bills.
The article also inadvertently points up one of the major flaws in the anti-rights agenda: their solutions don’t solve their flagship problems.
Everyone knows that the prime motivator for the resurgence of the gun control movement was the atrocity committed at Sandy Hook Elementary School last December, with various other senseless violent assaults being thrown in for good measure. But none of the antis’ primary objectives would have the slightest impact on those attacks, nor on any to come.
Keep in mind that the Sandy Hook attack occurred in Connecticut, a state which was rated fifth in the nation for “good” laws by the Brady Campaign. Only California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and New York have stricter laws. The state also boasts one of the lowest crime rates in the nation. That’s to be expected from a state with among the highest per capita income, and the benefits that go along with that: some of the best schools, health care providers, mental health services, and high ratio of law enforcement officers to the citizenry. Still, with all of that going for it, one aberrant 20-year old found a way to access weapons and commit one of the most evil acts of mayhem in modern history. It is also worth noting that, considering the target of his violence was a handful of unarmed women and dozens of helpless little children, just about any weapon – bludgeon, blade, or incendiary – would have sufficed.
In response to one delusional weakling’s actions, the state legislature further tightened already rigid restrictions on “assault weapons” and added restrictions on magazine capacity, along with additional licensing and registration requirements.
None of those actions would have prevented or mitigated the Sandy Hook atrocity.
At the national level, initial talk of restrictions similar to Connecticut’s failed laws, were abandoned as a bridge too far. Instead those focusing on the tool rather than the perpetrator pressed for a more politically feasible proposal to criminalize private transfers of firearms. Proponents of this proposal prefer to call it “universal background checks.” The real effect would be to make criminals of anyone who sold – or even loaned – a gun to a friend or neighbor. They talked about “Internet sales,” but neglected to mention that private Internet sales are already illegal if it involves shipment of firearms between private individuals through the mail or common carriers. What hoplophobes refer to as “Internet sales” are actually Internet advertisements – like classified ads or yard sale postings. The actual transfer must take place face-to-face, must generally be between residents of the same state, and are illegal if the purchaser is prohibited from possessing a firearm under state or federal law.
And again, the Sandy hook murderer did not acquire his weapons through a private sale or any sale at all. He manipulated his way into possession of a handgun and used that handgun to murder the lawful owner of the guns – his own mother – in order to steal them, but he probably could have committed the same horrible result with the “Samurai” sword hanging on his bedroom wall.
The Navy Yard murderer legally purchased his shotgun through a dealer after passing a background check – then committed multiple felonies by sawing the barrel shorter and transporting the gun and ammunition into the District of Columbia and into the Navy Yard. The Batman movie murderer legally purchased his weapons through a dealer after passing a background check, and then violated a “No Guns” zone to commit his attack. Same goes for the murderer at Virginia Tech, and most of the other high profile murderers in recent years.
The AP story is, not surprisingly, long on blame for the evil NRA and their nefarious death-grip on the throats of Congress, but it ignores the heart of the “gun lobby” and the source of our power: millions of liberty loving activists who take this issue very seriously and who write letters, send emails, work for and against candidates, and vote.
No amount of money, media bias, or pandering can do what millions of committed activists can to shift the outcome of an election.
The antis claim widespread public support for their agenda, but that claimed support has never evidenced itself at the polls. In fact, in the recent Virginia gubernatorial election, the anti-rights Democrat was polling at double-digits ahead of the Republican candidate until Mike Bloomberg hit the airwaves with a million dollars and made guns an issue in the election. Once voters began to realize the positions of the two candidates on guns, the gap narrowed precipitously, ending with a narrow, 2-point victory for the Democrat. And that was with a vocally pro-rights, Libertarian candidate drawing more than 6% of the vote.
There’s no doubt that the anti-rights campaign of Bloomberg and his “mom” mercenaries represents a real threat. Nonetheless, if rights groups stand their ground, clearly convey their message to the public, and rally their troops, the end result will be victory for liberty, and more embarrassing defeat for Bloomberg and his gang, making gun control a losing issue for the next ten years.
But that will only happen if GunVoters get active to defend the Second Amendment wherever it is threatened.
About:The Firearms Coalition is a loose-knit coalition of individual Second Amendment activists, clubs and civil rights organizations. Founded by Neal Knox in 1984, the organization provides support to grassroots activists in the form of education, analysis of current issues, and with a historical perspective of the gun rights movement. The Firearms Coalition is a project of Neal Knox Associates, Manassas, VA. Visit:
www.FirearmsCoalition.org
Pass the word. Bloomberg and his demanding mommies need to be outed for what they are. Be sure to check out the Firearms Coalition. Jeff Knox and company are true friends of the 2nd Amendment.
