Column by Alex R. Knight III.
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Ever since the February, 2018 shootings at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the political Left in America – and elsewhere – have ratcheted up their traditional disdain for privately-owned firearms to an over-the-top, frantic pitch. The Democratic Party has made gun control its #1 platform priority for the foreseeable future, with everything from bans and stricter licensing, to outright gun confiscation and an end to legal ownership on the table. They've even had help: Donald Trump pushed through a BATFE regulatory ban on bump stock accessories, and at the time of this writing, he has also floated the idea of banning already heavily federally-regulated suppressors.
The mantra drumming out from these bureaucratic parasites is that the number and frequency of mass shootings – along with more routine gun crime – is at a critical level. We've all heard by now, I think, the catchphrases such as, “No other civilized nation puts up with this,” and “We are alone in failing to pass sensible gun legislation.” Never mind that just over a half century ago guns could be ordered through the mail without a background check, and most of the 20,000+ now existing gun laws on the books didn't exist – and high-profile shootings with multiple casualties (other than the 1966 Charles Starkweather affair) were virtually unheard of. This would tend to indicate that lack of gun laws and greater degrees of individual freedom have not been the culprits here, but rather a drastically different kind of society: One in which the nuclear family is all but dead, economic pressures and taxation have dramatically increased, laws restricting human liberty are far more numerous, government corruption (including police brutality) has continued and intensified, and violence as the basis for solving problems has become more and more widely accepted (with government itself, by its very inherent nature, as the reigning example). But these are complex, far-ranging, multi-generational issues that one cannot even pretend to fix with a few emotional speeches and the stroke of a pen. They also come, largely, as a result of leftist social and political initiatives. Hence, they are never visited, or even spoken about much, and it is to more utterly useless gun laws that the political class appeals. It's convenient, it's feel-good, it increases governmental authority, and it even wins votes in some places. All good for business as usual.
But that's their nomenclature. Deep down, the anti-gun bloodsuckers – who happen to predominate on the Left – know and understand that gun control does not reduce crime. True, it may slightly reduce gun crime specifically, but at the expense of all other types of crime escalating. Again, they're fully aware of this. The statistics have been available for years. So the question becomes: Are there any other motivations – besides winning political brownie points in leftist regions – for the members of the political class who pander to such collectivistic ideations to oppose firearms ownership?
I would say that, particularly as it applies to the Left, there are at least two major ideological reasons why they are so reticent to accept non-governmental ownership and carrying of weapons. First is the leftist idea of “equality.” In order to promote this concept, it is of course necessary that no one be able to assert a level of individual independence above or beyond that of everyone else. Naturally however, in order to ensure this “egalitarianism,” it is also necessary to have a centralized policing force who are themselves not equal to, but above the populace. This most obvious irony seems to not affect whatever passes for the conscience of the Left one bit . . . so long as they are ultimately in control of said policing force. It's quite apparent then that the “equality” the Left seek only applies to those who sheepishly agree with their false reasoning and allow themselves to be thus governed . . . and to those who may disagree, but are subjugated by superior force to the Left's will in any case. It is more risque', is it not, to coerce such individuals into submission if they are armed. That this inconvenient fact sticks in the Left's craw so deeply should be in no way surprising.
Secondly, and concomitant with this, is also the idea that gun owners are not as trusting of the established order as are their anti-gun counterparts. Implicit in the ownership of firearms is not only the desire to be individually empowered and self-reliant, but also a certain level of distrust – ranging from slight to total -- in the existing sociopolitical system. A belief that perhaps all is far from A-OK with the powers-that-be, and not just because Donald Trump happens to be president at the moment. A fundamental sense that, in the finished article, it is self-sufficient people with their own wealth and weapons who can best make their way in the world, and not bureaucratic systems filled with venal sociopaths spouting Marxist rhetoric, who are in turn starstruck by all the possibilities for self-elevation inherent to political power.
Rest assured: The doe-eyed leftists who assure us that they only want what's in all of our best interests (as if any person, or group of them, could ever know such a thing in any case) are in truth wildly angry powermongers who fear that firearms give you and I just a little too much independence and ability to assert ourselves against an ostensibly “equalizing” state that they feel is poised to save the world from evil capitalism and individualistic greed through socialist restructuring – if only they can effectively compel our compliance. All their feigned outrage over criminal misuse of guns is merely a tool they think they can use to great effect. In some quarters, sadly, it is working.
This is all the more reason to show them you're not surrendering. Be every bit the threat they consider you to be by remaining armed, resistant to their lies, and a vociferous advocate for free markets and liberty. Be an advocate for widespread gun ownership. It's everything they fear.
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