The NY Times’ Gail Collins does what liberals do best: politicize a tragedy for their far left politics. She is, of course, not the only one. Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun group Everytown and Excitable Shannon Watts both did their best to politicize the shooting before the facts are in. Loony Tariq Nasheed referred to the shooter, Esteban Santiago, as a “white Hispanic.” He had the gun packed away in his checked baggage, he had expressed views which made him seem a bit nuts, told the FBI he felt ISIS was controlling his mind, so
When a man at a Florida airport retrieves his luggage, takes out a gun and kills five people, the only part people are surprised about is that it happened at an airport.
In the grand sweep of American gunfire in the 21st century, all we can say about Friday’s Fort Lauderdale tragedy was that it’s the worst mass shooting so far in 2017. But there have already been six incidents with more than three dead or wounded victims. On Wednesday, three family members in Fontana, Calif., were killed in their home and another critically wounded. A 73-year-old relative was charged. Never even entered the national conversation.
Strangely, the rise of murders in Democrat run cities, mostly with Blacks shooting Blacks, isn’t in the national conversation, at least as how the national news covers it. In the brief periods it’s mentioned, the thrust is typically about making it harder for law abiding citizens to obtain a firearm to protect themselves from the rising tide of violence in Democrat run cities.
Meanwhile, many people in non-gun places wondered why airline passengers were allowed to have firearms in their luggage.
It’s hard to have a rational gun conversation in a country with such a cultural chasm. It’s the job of our national officials to bridge the gap. And it ought to be possible, since there are some important issues on which almost everybody agrees. One is that gun purchases should be run through background checks to make sure the buyer doesn’t have a record of lawbreaking or serious mental problems.
First, virtually every purchase requires a background check. This is typical scaremongering and, yes, lying, from the anti-2nd Amendment people (say, does the NY Times still have armed security in the lobby, Gail?). Second, you can see she wants to ban people from flying with their weapons, despite this being just about the first time this has happened. Funny how she doesn’t get as worked up when it’s an Islamist doing the shooting.
Anyway, here we go
This is the moment where I tell you that our president-elect does not believe in sensible regulation of gun sales.
Donald Trump’s position on gun laws has gone through a rather familiar evolution. Back in the day he was a sort of indifferent moderate. Then came the campaign and a love affair with the National Rifle Association, which dumped about $30 million into the effort to get Trump elected president.
But about the background checks: The N.R.A. lobbyists hate them. And Trump has promised that as soon as he’s sworn in, he’ll “unsign†Barack Obama’s executive order closing a big loophole involving online sales and gun shows.
Trump could make a really good start this month by just — not doing anything divisive. Give the country a hint that the guy who terrified so many Americans during the campaign will be more measured in office. Leave the background checks alone. We’ve been through a lot.
In fact, the NRA supports background checks. Their supporters and members support background checks. They have no problem with the BCs, because these people will pass one. What they do know is that a) people like Gail Collins, Shannon Watts, and Michael Bloomberg, among others, want to use background checks to deny law abiding people their Constitution right on the way to taking all guns out of private hands, and b) background checks aren’t particularly effective in keeping guns out of the hands of criminals. If the hardcore, restrictive gun regulations, including background check, that the gun haters espouse work so well, then why do shootings, including mass shootings, tend to occur more in areas with these hardcore, restrictive gun regulations?
But, hey, nothing says responsible, non-partisan journalism like linking Trump and the NRA to the shooting, eh?
Crossed at Right Wing News.
Surprise, right-wingers use shooting tragedy to bash “gun free zones”, liberals, Democrats, Bill Clinton and Hispanic sounding names.
Why don’t Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, etc etc etc have homicide rates even close to the US? These nations are blanketed with “gun free zones”. Why aren’t they shooting galleries?
Unfortunately, there are no good and practical answers left for the US. We have lots of guns and will keep lots of guns. We will continue to have 10,000 or so firearms related homicides and almost 1000 firearms related accidental deaths (including scores of dead children). It’s one small price we pay for our freedom to have guns.
In Europe airports are patrolled by heavily armed personnel.
In this case the blame falls squarely on an ex-military CCW permit holder and US citizen who calmly took his legal weapon from his luggage and killed five innocents and critically wounded several more.
Would it seem reasonable to NOT allow this person to have easy access to a gun?
Surprise, left-wingers use shooting tragedy to bash the 2nd amendment, conservatives, Republicans, American Freedoms.
Come on Jeffery, you aren’t stupid. You realize because occasionally a person misuses or abuses his rights it’s no reason to deprive other good people of theirs. Especially when these abuses occur it’s most often by criminals or crazies. Are we going to base our freedoms on criminals and crazies? I hope not.
Guns play the EXACT same role in shootings that camera’s do in child pornography, only the special kind of stupid that permeates the democrat party can’t grasp this simple fact.
Hoagie,
I’m on your side! I said 10,000 homicides a year is the small price we pay for gun freedom. There’s no way out! Recall in Newtown CT in 2012 a psycho killed his gun-nut mother, then mercilessness murdered 20 six and seven year old kids and 6 teaches/staff, and as a nation we did exactly nothing. We will never do anything. As a nation we’ve made clear that crazy violent people have rights to guns. This is us. But our love of guns does NOT immunize us against criticism.
All that said, few of our overall national firearms related deaths result from these types of mass shootings. Still, they command a great deal of attention when they happen.
Again, a camera’s primary focus isn’t child pornography, but a gun’s primary discharge is to kill (and to make some men feel secure, even feared).