We need self-control, not gun control
Democrats are back to trying to find a sneaky way to limit law-abiding gun ownership and, once again, gun sales predictably soar. Even 90-year-old Betty White is packing heat. In fact, any time a mass shooter is arrested, MSNBC and BET say the same thing: Betty White.
With the help of a sensationalizing press and the entertainment business, which makes the pernicious and violent video games and movies that I think play a big role in mass shootings, liberals predictably seize upon a couple of recent shootings to call for more gun control. The top two brands of silencers in America are Dead Air Silencers by Griffin Armament and Facebook by Mark Zuckerberg.
There are two hypocrisies here. First, Dems, Hollywood, government officials and the mainstream press are all protected by gun-toting security. A few knuckleheads stormed the Capitol and the place was locked down with barbed wire, fences and heavily armed security/National Guard troops (at a taxpayer cost of more than $50 million). These “elites” are safe precisely because their guards have guns, which ghettos, farms and trailer parks do not. For us measly citizens, Atlanta is a living, breathing, 24/7 crime spree to which cops will hardly respond
Second, if more laws and more gun control really worked, all mass shootings could just be outlawed. Only the most law-abiding citizens will try to follow complex gun laws, not criminals. Full disclosure: I have a carry permit. I like guns. Even my guns have a gun.
When you are told by politicians that you do not need the Second Amendment, that’s when you need it most. John Adams said, “Arms in the hands of citizens may be used at individual discretion for the defense of country, overthrow of tyranny or private defense.” With Obama and his Obama 2.0 embedded into his puppet, Biden, weaponizing agencies like the IRS and FBI against citizens would suggest that we might have needed guns sooner.
In every one of my columns about guns, I have said that that we need a balanced study on guns — and not from the hysterical hyenas on opposing sides. We shouldn’t use polls from just the NRA or Chuck Schumer’s Upper Eastside condo board. I believe that no one should own a gun who has a history of violence, a psychiatric record, or a Cardi B record.
With the results of a balanced study, when the emotion of a mass shooting has faded and reason can once again prevail, perhaps we can dispel the myths and reduce some of the bureaucracy surrounding gun ownership.
Tennessee is moving toward anyone being able to carry a gun without a permit. In Wisconsin, a state full of folks of German descent, they can carry guns. I’m not saying we should be too worried about this — until they start marching and singing.
Only about 300 deaths per year are caused by assault weapons. In one recent year, 496 Americans were killed with hammers, 650 with knives, and 12,000 people died because of drunk drivers. Millions of Americans are dying from obesity-related causes; perhaps a one-week waiting period to buy a Twinkie is next? Or confiscation of all forks? Yet the memorable thing about 2020 is that no one in America died of natural causes.
George Clooney, protected in his jet by armed security guards, gave money for anti-gun causes. George is at that awkward career stage, too old for leading man roles but too young for Life Alert or a Jitterbug phone, so he opines on politics for attention.
Looney Tunes has bowed to the left’s PC pressure and will no longer show their cartoons with characters shooting guns. The left has spent tens of millions to get rid of guns, and the only ones they have gotten so far belong to Yosemite Sam and Elmer Fudd.
Manly stars of the 60s were different than the knee-jerk liberal actors of today. The great Dean Martin best summed up the gun debate when he was charged by a DA with two felony counts of carrying a loaded .38 handgun. The media drew him into the debate by asking him as he was leaving the jail, “Mr. Martin, do you think everyone should have a gun?” He said, “No, preferably just me.”
Contact Ron Hart, a syndicated op-ed satirist, author and TV/radio commentator, at Ron@RonaldHart.com.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.