Well, we have four things to learn from. They run the usual gamut of things we often have to cover in the screaming matches we see over the Second Amendment. A terrorist attack, a tragic school shooting, and another attack on our rights – albeit from a new direction we were kind of expecting. We’ll also talk a little about the big anti-gun march that took place.
Let’s start with the school shooting at Great Mills High School in Maryland. The school resource officer there acted quickly, courageously, and decisively. As a result of that action, thankfully, there was only one fatality aside from the shooter. That is the first lesson: An armed, trained, and courageous response stops attacks. As an aside, the shooter used a handgun he had stolen. The second lesson: Maryland’s super-strict laws did not prevent this shooting from happening – the Maryland legislature and anti-Second Amendment governors have enacted a virtual wish list from Bloomberg, Feinstein, and other gun-ban groups. Note that the media is quietly dropping coverage of this shooting.
Next, we head to France. A terrorist who had pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria carried out a spree in which four people were killed, including a French cop who exchanged himself for hostages. France’s gun laws make Maryland seem respectful of the Second Amendment. They didn’t stop this attack, and were just as ineffective at keeping the thugs who robbed Kim Kardashian from guns, as well as the perpetrators of two terrorist attacks in Paris.
In both cases, we see the same themes. The bad guys are stopped not by gun-control laws, but by the decisive actions of good guys with the means to stop a terrorist or school shooter: Guns of their own, and the training and courage to use them effectively.
We now go to Citi’s announcement that companies doing business with it now have to accept some conditions. This is where anti-Second Amendment types have us outflanked and dangerously so. Between cultural engagement and this push in corporate boardrooms, they are shaming those who express support of the Second Amendment and gun ownership. What good will the Supreme Court tossing out every semi-auto ban in the country if we’re down to paying cash for guns because no bank will let a gun shop who sells AR-15s have an account? The decision by YouTube to shut down a lot of videos that demonstrate aspects of responsible, law-abiding gun ownership is also a step in that direction.
Dealing with this will take a two-track approach. It may be time to look at regulating social media the way we do other common carriers. It may also be time to start telling banks they can’t discriminate against lawful commerce. Those will only be short and medium-term fixes. The long-term fix will involve getting pro-Second Amendment views a voice in entertainment and in boardrooms – and that will take a lot of time, patience, and effort.
Finally, we look at the “March for Our Lives” and its calls for gun control. The media will try to convince you that anti-Second Amendment activists like David Hogg speak for all of the students of Parkland. That is a lie. I would urge people to follow Kyle Kashuv on Twitter – another survivor of that shooting who the media doesn’t want you to hear. He’s a class act, and he’s already done yeoman’s work with Patrick Petty in passing legislation that will reduce the chance of future tragedies.
As an aside, I note that Mr. Hogg is complaining about having to use a clear backpack from now on. Quite frankly, he now has a taste of what he has been inflicting on millions of law-abiding gun owners with his calls for gun bans. Perhaps he will tone down his rhetoric in light of that.
Which leads us to our biggest lesson: We need to fight for our Second Amendment rights – day in and day out. I wish that wasn’t the case, but those who would wrongly punish us for the acts of madmen and terrorists aren’t giving us a choice other than fight or surrender. Choose to fight.