By W&G Staff
It did not take long following the horrible Valentine’s Day school murders in Florida for the anti-gunners to exploit the tragedy in an effort to push their gun control agenda in every possible arena.
The anti-gunners are now mobilizing students, teacher organizations, businesses and every medium of communications to focus on banning some 10 million private-owned rifles, tighten background checks further, prohibit all gun sales to anyone under the age of 21 and even repeal the Second Amendment.
But their rhetoric about the mass murder was quickly in collision with the facts.
There were ample warning signs about the suspect in the Florida case, ranging from his past troubles at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School to a social media post that had been reported to the FBI, yet gun prohibitionists predictably blamed firearms for the carnage, not the sheriffs, the FBI and social services who had received warnings but did not take action.
Nineteen-year-old suspect Nikolas Cruz was quickly charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder, which he admitted.
However, this time the anti-gun zealots don’t plan to let a tragedy go to waste. They have organized as never before, launching a full court press to use a March Madness term, and they have organized young people as the spearhead in their blitzkrieg against guns.
The student marches against guns began in Parkland almost immediately after the massacre, spreading quickly to schools and cities around the country, and there appears to be little prospect that these emotional appeals will end soon.
But that’s only part of the anti-gunners’ campaign.
They have also roped big businesses into the campaign. Major retailers, such as Walmart and Dick’s Sporting Goods, have made headlines by unilaterally establishing their own anti-gun rules: no sales of so-called assault weapons, no long gun sales of any kind to people less than 21 years of age, no stocking of magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds, plus other new rules.
Delta Airlines, car rental companies, insurance companies and banks made headlines by publicly announcing that they were severing ties to the National Rifle Association as symbolic gestures in support of the anti-gun cause.
As might be expected, most of the media gave extra publicity to anyone and anything that furthered the anti-gun cause, and radio and television did the same with their selection of talk-show guests in an attempt to achieve a legislative victory for the anti-gun juggernaut. Of course, most cable news TV outlets also helped stir the pot.
There is the continuing exploitation of the multiple outlets of the Internet, including just about all of the devices and apps available.
Then retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who authored the dissenting opinion on the 2008 Heller ruling, advised high school gun control demonstrators to “demand a repeal of the Second Amendment” in an Op-Ed piece published by the New York Times.
The retired associate justice’s words might lay bare the ultimate intention of the gun prohibition movement: Repeal of the single clause in the Constitution that protects all the other tenets, the failsafe against tyranny that the Founders feared after having fought a bloody revolution against an oppressive government.
In his New York Times opinion piece, Stevens argues for raising the age for purchasing a rifle to 21 years. He asserts that the concern that a standing army might threaten the security of the separate states “is a relic of the 18th century.” He doesn’t detail what other rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights might also be “relics.”
Repeal of the Second Amendment is the only clear way, Stevens argued, to weaken the National Rifle Association’s “ability to stymie legislative debate and block constructive gun control legislation than any other available option.”
Stevens further argues that repeal “would eliminate the only legal rule that protects sellers of firearms in the United States,” which would open the door for unlimited lawsuits against gun manufacturers and retailers.
Stevens’ Op-Ed not only lays bare the false claim of some anti-gun politicians who say they support the Second Amendment, it cuts to the core of the ultimate aim of most anti-gun activists: to eliminate the people’s right to keep and bear arms. It also serves as a reminder of the deep division over the Second Amendment and private gun ownership in America.
By some estimates there may be as many as 100 million American gun owners who possess at least 300 million firearms. Stevens might think repeal is a sound idea, but he’s been on the losing side before.
