Whenever America suffers another senseless loss of life at the hands of a crazed gunman, gun control will always come up — regardless of the circumstances.
It’s no surprise then that the tragic July shooting at a Lafayette, Louisiana, theater has prompted calls for restricting access to guns.
What’s new is the person calling for new gun laws: comedian Amy Schumer.
Schumer is presently the most important comedian in the eyes to urban elites. Besides fulfilling the requirement of not actually being funny, the lady stand-up serves up her comedy with a strong dash of feminism and other politically-correct views.
The comedian’s Monday speech endorsing gun legislation sponsored by her cousin, New York Senator Chuck Schumer, managed to veer into her favorite subject of gender politics — even though the Louisiana shooting that inspired the bill appears to have nothing to do with women’s issues.
“I got about a million emails from friends telling me, ‘It could have been any movie,’ and I’m trying to believe that. But I’m not sure… I think the idea of women’s equality making anyone upset is not anything I’ll ever understand,” she responded to a question that asked if she thought the shooter intentionally chose a showing of her her film, “Trainwreck,” for his crime.
Schumer also courageously stated she didn’t care about the backlash that would come for supporting an idea that is endorsed by the most powerful forces in the country, because “I want to be proud of the way I’m living and what I stand for.”
But what exactly does Ms. Schumer stand for? In spite of the comic’s comments that make it seem like it’s her against the world, Schumer clearly stands up for the interests of one of the most privileged groups in our society: upper-class white women.
In fact, the comic has a particular knack for turning this well-educated, well-funded group’s grievances into urgent causes for social justice.
From promoting issues that actually aren’t issues like pay equality and campus rape hysteria, Schumer has recently even managed to turn private complaints into problems society needs to resolve.
In June, the comedy starlet received the “Trailblazer of the Year” award from Glamour magazine and pontificated: “I’m like 160 pounds right now, and I can catch a dick whenever I want.”
The statement was rapturously received by the audience and The Huffington Post published a breathless piece praising it up to high heaven. Schumer’s primary message is that you should be comfortable with being yourself, but her headline-worthy quote implies society is obligated to reward you for being yourself.
Besides that, it also implies we should accept a health problem as perfectly normal.
In a July interview with Glamour, the comic made another statement indicating society owes something else to women: orgasms. “Make sure he knows that you’re entitled to an orgasm,” she told the magazine.
This comment resonated with left-wing outlets and Mic.com argued it shed a light on the pressing “orgasm gap” that’s currently wrecking our country. However, it’s fairly obvious that this sounds more like a personal problem than a social ill.
Both of these issues Schumer has touched on are personal matters that should be left to private individuals to sort out, and are certainly not pressing matters for society to worry itself with.
But what make these comments reverberate throughout the left’s echo chamber is Schumer’s ability to make these issues feel like injustices that she’s standing up to. She makes the jokes; Mic, Vox and HuffPo turn them into concerns for social justice warriors.
That’s what makes her new focus on guns noteworthy. As she made clear in the announcement speech, gun control is now “personal” for her. Besides the understandable distress that the victims of the shooting were killed viewing her film, Schumer is going to personalize the issue the same way she treated fat acceptance and orgasms.
Both of those issues became injustices that must be solved with entitlements. There were no facts presented, just “feels” something is wrong and must be solved ASAP. We shouldn’t expect any different strategy when it comes to guns.
Arguments will focus on how it is absolutely wrong for there to be guns in our society and how we are entitled to live in a gun-free nation. There will be no mention of the fact that nearly all recent mass shootings — including the Lafayette murder — have occurred in gun-free zones. There will be no mention of the crimes stopped by law-abiding gun owners. There will be no mention of the countries that have implemented gun control, yet still have crazies who find ways to mass murder fellow humans.
These are facts that get in the way of the feels that guns are bad and shouldn’t be owned by anyone.
Unfortunately, this un-reasoning will be devoured without question by her devoted followers in the media and among the general public. Arguing with her will inevitably result in accusations of misogyny and defending “toxic masculinity.”
It remains to be seen if gun right advocates can withstand this latest barrage and get the facts out to the public.
As a society, we’re entitled to know them.