Liberals have predictably seized upon the recent Nashville private school shooting rampage by a mentally ill, 28-year-old, transgendered woman to call for more gun control. Also predictably, gun sales will go up.
Each side said politicians on the other side were politicizing this latest shooting. The left and their social justice warriors were mad because Republicans are standing firm on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.
We all need to go slowly, get the facts straight, and not make rash decisions that give politicians and the government more power — which we will later regret. We make the worst decisions when emotions are heightened and Americans are worked up. We invaded Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11. The government gave us the “Patriot Act,” TSA, NSA, FISA Courts (which, according to news reports, illegally spy on more than 3 million Americans), and the Department of Homeland Security (which includes the new Thought Police) – all over anger about 9/11. Now we live with these unneeded agencies.
Never underestimate political “mission creep” when there are so many creeps in government. Freedoms ceded to government are never regained.
A chapter in my book discussed the most enduring, divisive issues. Its title was “God, Guns and Gays.” I know a lot about this because I grew up in a small town near Nashville, and God, Guns and Gays was my high school prom theme.
A lot of factors went into the Nashville shooting. The media makes a shooter’s name known to the world and thereby encourages future shootings. They should not.
The media has also ginned up a false narrative about some sort of epidemic of crimes against transgendered people. Like any group of people who are told they are victims (whether supported by the facts or not), they feel threatened and they strike out. Thus, there has been a spike in LGBTQ, etc. shooters. Of recent shootings in Colorado Springs, Denver, Aberdeen and now Nashville, all the shooters have been determined to be trans. Add the woman/man who attacked Dave Chappelle on stage in LA to that violence list, and there is clearly a new trend by this newly in vogue, aggrieved class.
There are more hypocrisies here: Democrats, Hollywood, government officials, limousine liberals and the mainstream media are all protected by gun-toting security. They are safe precisely because their guards have guns, which ghettos, farms and trailer parks do not.
Joe Biden says we have too many guns in America. Most are starting to believe that we have too many Bidens in America.
The media and public health leftists call the mass murders and killings an “epidemic.” The reality is that, as gun ownership has grown rapidly since 1991, the murder rate has been cut by more than half. The only thing that has increased are suicide rates. Ninety percent of suicides are white males, which should make Democrats happy.
In a year when about 10,000 murders were committed with guns, the “Journal of Quantitative Criminology” (I think it was the May swimsuit issue) found that U.S. civilians used guns to defend themselves and others from crimes at least 989,883 times. That peace of mind is immeasurable.
History shows us when any government tells its citizens they do not need guns, that’s when people need them most. No doubt many of us gun advocates could support raising the legal age to buy an AR-15-style rifle to 21. Sadly, with each side blaming the other, common-sense compromises can’t be had.
Lastly, if more laws and gun control really worked, we could just ban mass shootings. I am not sure why we think one more gun law, layered upon myriad past gun laws, will make a difference. Look at all the murders in Chicago, the city with the strictest gun laws in America. Laws do not work with the lawless.
If you order Memphis barbecue or Chicago-style pizza, you know you got the real thing if it starts shooting at you when you open the box.
Biden toured gun crime-ridden New Orleans recently, pushing his anti-gun agenda. A New Orleans reporter asked him what he could do to help The Big Easy. Bided replied, “Wasn’t naming her Vice President enough?”
A libertarian op-ed humorist and award-winning author, Ron does commentary on radio and TV. He can be contacted at Ron@RonaldHart.com or @RonaldHart on Twitter.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.