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Gun Control Marches Are Dangerous
I’m almost afraid to read the paper these days. North Korea, Turkey, China, Muslims in Europe, Mexican gangs, and so on. The world is a dangerous place. But then I realize that none of the dangerous people out there can take my freedoms. America, for all its flaws, is still a fundamentally free country, and there is nothing Kim Jong Un can do about that. Satisfied that my rights are safe from those crazies, I pick up the newspaper. And what do I see?
Americans marching in the streets demanding that their own rights be taken away by their own government. These are not Islamist crazies marching in Jordan. These are American crazies marching in nice suburbs of Cleveland. If a Muslim cleric who vowed to destroy America called for the repeal of the Second Amendment, I could understand that. It’s a lot easier to shoot up a shopping mall if no one’s shooting back. And he’s not an American, so why would he care about the rights of Americans? But when my fellow Americans demand that their own rights be taken away, I wonder if we can handle freedom.
A patient told me recently that he didn’t think private citizens should be allowed to have guns – it wasn’t safe. I suggested to him that he should not buy a gun then. If he knows that he is a threat to others if he had a gun, then he is wise not to own one. But that’s not what these marches are about. They are arguing that Americans in general cannot handle the freedoms we have.
And maybe they’re right. By expanding the role of government, the left has worked over the years to convert a country of independent citizens into a country of sheep. Sheep are easier to manage, but they can’t handle freedom.
Those marches are filled with people who think the American concept of freedom is dangerous. That makes those people dangerous. To American freedom, at least. Much more dangerous than Kim Jong Un.
Published in Guns
Many or most of these people are kids who are being pressured, or at the very least, strongly encouraged by adults. My parents were always active politically, in the pro-life movement. At my Catholic high school, there was a pro-life club: my parents actively discouraged me from joining it. They wanted me to focus on my studies and my own life: I am eternally grateful to them for that. I am not saying that such clubs are by definition bad, just that parents and teachers should not be using kids to spread their message. Even if the cause is just, it’s wrong for adults to put the weight of the world on the shoulders of 15 year olds. Sadly, most of these kids will probably never come to terms with how they have been exploited. They will just dig their heels in and keep screaming to take away people’s guns. Sigh.
Conservatives, by nature, seem far less likely to put their kids in the public eye to promote their message; we should point this out at every opportunity. We absolutely should not turn this into a liberal 15 year olds vs conservative 15 year olds debate: there is a place for that in debate class, but not on national television. Leftists must be called out for what they are doing, and we should steadfastly refuse to respond in kind.
Yes, technically they’re demanding that their own rights be taken away, but that’s not how they see it. They’re not using this particular right anyway, and they fear and/or despise the people who are. It’s a twofer – they get to “do something” about school violence and crap on rednecks at the same time.
I keep telling myself that this is really nothing new. There have always been certain people who are only too eager to trade freedom for the promise of security, and others who are eager to make such promises in order to gain power. However, it does seem that the more comfortable and secure society becomes, the more people seem to be frightened by the prospect of freedom and the uncertainty it entails.
That’s because Conservatives value freedom, and the Left values outcomes. “By any means necessary” is not something a traditional conservative would take as a motto or foundational principal. So if exploiting the kids furthers the causes … exploit away. By any means necessary.
I have a hard time imagining a high school student who wouldn’t take advantage of getting out of class for 17 minutes.
It’d be interesting to see what the turnout would be if it took place 17 minutes before school started.
No sacrifice is too great for social justice…
I sent my daughter, a senior in high school, a text yesterday and asked “Did you participate in the walkout?” She said “No. It’s dumb.”
My daughter, though a young woman of few words, is a woman who owns her own firearms and knows how to use them.
I’m going with her answer…
Why 17 minutes? According one quick source, there were over 1,000 murders in Florida in 2015. Why not stand around for a few hours every Friday for a month, or something?
How ’bout a 39 minute walk out? One minute for each time law enforcement interacted with the shooter and did nothing. Then add 14 minutes for each minute Broward County LEO’s cowered outside instead of interdicting the shooter (you know, the agents of the state that should be the only ones to possess firearms because “safety”).
Where can we carve out 53 minutes during the day to stage such a protest? Civics class? History?
I’ve got to know, @drbastiat. Did your patient get it? I couldn’t help smiling . . .
He seemed a bit miffed. But I thought I was very reasonable.
Next time you see him, tell him that I think he shouldn’t be allowed to….well…make something up. It doesn’t matter. Because, you know, if I think someone shouldn’t be able to do it, then by golly they shouldn’t be allowed to do it.
I am a lousy oboe player. So I think he shouldn’t be allowed to play oboe, because I can’t stand the sound of lousy oboe music…
That goes without saying. Also your choice in Ricochet avatars leave a lot to be desired, so you should have the government select it for you.
“But, but…my Ricochet avatar doesn’t kill anyone!” you say? Well neither do my guns….so….
Absolutely. Right on.
That was then.
This is now.
About a Berkeley High School principal who left his job under a cloud:
His successor, Erin Schweng, once a teacher at the middle school where violent radical Yvette Felarca has long worked, was part of “Hoodie Day” at the school to memorialize Trayvon Martin, with students and teachers wearing hoodies. Schweng’s class had Skittles and Arizona Tea. She and described this as follows:
It’s because comfort and security turn freedom into an abstraction they can’t understand the value of. They don’t see firsthand what the consequence of less freedom is, and it’s harder to know someone who has experienced or seen it first hand. If you don’t know anyone who has and you haven’t seen it yourself, then you just have to pick this up from school or culture or a book or something.
The reason why that last part may not be working is left as an exercise for the reader.
Reproduce.
The oboe: an ill wind that nobody blows good. (Old joke)
My oboe-playing cousin: “What’s the difference between an oboe and a bassoon?”
Answer “A bassoon takes longer to burn.”