Pirate's Cove

Well, I guess it’s at least good that The Rt. Rev. Mark Beckwith, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark and co-convenor of Bishops United Against Gun Violence, didn’t rush to use an event to push his agenda, but it does show that the gun grabbers will latch on to anything to push their agenda

50 years after MLK was gunned down, we still haven’t solved gun violence | Opinion

Fifty years ago, on April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was murderedwith a high-powered rifle. The gun was purchased under a false name at a Birmingham, Alabama gun shop by a petty criminal who was known for his racist rants, and who had been stalking King for weeks.

In other words, the gun was purchased illegally. A criminal act. The rifle used, a Remington Gamemaster 760 .30-06, is not on any of the lists that the gun banners trot out to ban, and is actually the exact type they say are there for our “hunting rights.” James Earl Ray was a virulent anti-black racist, which is what Democrats mostly were at the time, too.

King was no stranger to violence. And for a short while, he had some relationship with guns. After his Montgomery, Alabama home was firebombed in February 1956, King applied for a gun permit, which was denied by the sheriff’s office. He eventually secured a gun, but after his pilgrimage to India in 1959, he renounced guns and embraced non-violence as a way of life and as a strategy for the Civil Rights movement.

Huh. So the government had denied him his 2nd Amendment Rights?

King said that he was much more afraid in Montgomery when he had a gun in his house, so when he decided that he could no longer keep a gun he felt that he could walk into the crucible of violence with more faith and courage. “Our oppressors have used rifles and guns,” he preached. “I’m not going to stoop down to their level.”

And we’re into strawman territory

While we can only speculate what King might say today as the epidemic of gun violence continues to sweep across our country, his 9-year-old granddaughter, Yolanda Renee King, echoed her grandfather’s passion and commitment at the March for Our Lives rally in Washington D.C., when she said, “I have a dream — that enough is enough.”

Gun rights supporters have challenged the rhetoric from the nearly 800 marches held across the country on March 24 (including nearly a dozen in New Jersey), but the data is hard to ignore. There are more than 300 million guns in America today, which nearly matches the population — and which is double the number of guns Americans owned in 1968. In 1968, gun violence resulted in about 23,000 deaths per year; in 2016 that number had mushroomed to more than 35,000 (each year includes homicides and suicides by guns). The math is clear — more guns produce more deaths.

If our guns were the problem, you’d know it. If we were the ones committing the gun violence, you’d know it. It is primarily those with illegal firearms, and the math is clear that, per capita, the rate of shootings has gone down. And occurs primarily in Democratic Party run cities, especially those populated by Blacks, kept down on the plantation by the Democrats. Also, since the Rev is discussing the legally owned firearms, seems as if he is coming after those.

Guns rights supporters, egged on by the NRA, continue to bark about how this is a Second Amendment issue. It isn’t. This is a public health crisis, and until we re-frame the conversation and enact stricter gun laws, which our young people are insisting upon, these senseless tragedies will no doubt continue.

Huh. So he is coming after those legally owned firearms by law abiding citizens. And this is why 2nd Amendment supporters are unwilling to give an inch even on smart solutions, because we know they are just first steps towards more and more restrictions on us, while the gun banners offer virtually nothing to go after the criminals who use firearms.

Fifty years after his death King continues to be a prophet for our time. He gave his life trying to bring people together, and to rally them to the cause of justice. He was cut down by a gun. Guns are machines designed for separation — life from death. We can honor King’s legacy by continuing to challenge the availability and capacity of guns — which in some quarters have become the golden calf of our day. We can do better. Our kids demand it.

The kids are kids. And 50% also believe that protecting Free Speech isn’t important. And they eat Tide pods and get unhinged over words. Regardless, let’s also consider that 50 years after MLK Jr’s murder we haven’t solved murder, even though it is illegal. It’s also illegal to stab people. To steal. To commit arson. Carjack people. Run red lights and stop signs. Speed. Commit fraud. Rape has been against the law in Western societies since the time of the Roman Empire. It (sadly) still occurs. Perhaps the good Rev should worry more about the violence, theft, rape, assault, and murder in his town of Newark, NJ. Which, interestingly, has seen its crime rate go down thanks to gentrification over the past 10 years. And, despite the high level of gun control laws on the books in NJ (it’s actually worse than California for law abiding gun owners), NJ still has a high level of shootings.