Guns and Children – A Losing PropositionNationally, the assault on guns is in full force. First, spates of school shootings have occurred in recent years, drawing harsh criticism geared toward gun owners and gun-rights supporters. Then we have gun movement guru Charleton Heston quietly kowtowing to the gun-grabbers on federal control over gun enforcement. Finally, the women of the Million Mom March gang recruited the intellectual giant, Rosie O’Donnell, and along with her, a slew of lady lefties to come and grab our guns. But none of this folly will triumph. Leftist tactics will never be good enough to defeat the drive for freedom. The gun issue wields more than a speck of emotional drama. Those of us in favor of optimum freedoms see gun control as a collectivist fancy that seeks to eliminate basic and necessary liberties handed down from those who fought our greatest revolution. The drive to corrupt female minds against guns is just an attempt to add more impulsive emotions to this conflict. Some like to give the anti-gun Million Moms too much credit, and refer to them as good and well-meaning people with bad ideas. However, keep in mind these women have sold out their emotions to a cause that is based in tyranny, they have sold their souls for fiction propaganda, and they act as one big collective thought process rather than dare to think on individual terms. None of this is noble stuff. In her 1943 book, God of the Machine, Isabel Patterson described people like this as humanitarians with a guillotine. She states, "Most of the harm in the world is done by good people, and not by accident, lapse, or omission. It is the result of their deliberate actions, long persevered in, which they hold to be motivated by high ideals toward virtuous ends." Women are preyed upon in this cause because their estrogen content tends to make them more susceptible to a hatred of violence; a hatred of objects typically seen as "male toys"; and an easy falling for "the children" argument. As we’ve witnessed, the anti-gun crowd argues for their cause by alluding to "the children" as its main thrust. But these folks are merely looking at the surface of this issue, and calling for simplistic answers to complex human problems. "The children" argument implies that gun ownership and personal protection is bad for children. Somehow, the proponents of this argument manage to link the existence of severe and fatal crimes with guns as the only causal factor, and then link guns to harming children. All the while, the real problem is a left-liberal society that makes criminals the victims, and imposes tyranny on the law-abiding citizens. This problem is disregarded by the gun-grabbers because taking up this issue would not help to satisfy their emotional draw to issues that make them feel useful and productive. That is, helping children makes them feel that way; it gives them a sense of fulfillment they do not get elsewhere. So, on one end, guns cause crimes to be committed, and on the other end, guns cause children to be hurt. Of course, one could use the same silly reasoning and link the gun part to dogs, cats, or even squirrels. But I doubt the Million Moms, all 20,000 of them, would march for squirrels. Not only has "for the children!" become an old, dried-up theme, but also, the message it sends fails to conjure up the emotional support it once did. Women, the primary target of such emotional dribble, are no longer buying the message. Eliminating guns for the sake of "the children" is no longer bought at face value. Recently, the Million Mom March organization laid off 30 out of 35 employees due to a lack of funds. It is alleged that the organization split into 501c(3) (tax-exempt status) and 501c(4) (nonexempt, lobbying organization) sections. Apparently, it is an organization dealing with all sorts of funding boondoggles, its membership is falling into the toilet, and it can’t plunge its way out of that hole. One of the Moms’ latest failed assaults was its attempt to stop the nomination of Attorney General John Ashcroft. Invoking the "children" appeal, they claimed that Ascroft was harmful to children because he was "against including child safety locks with new handguns, and he supports people carrying concealed loaded guns, even at daycare centers and on school grounds." The Stop Ashcroft campaign was a dismal failure, yet the MMM’s celebrated the narrowly decided confirmation vote as a first step to victory. Uh huh. On Mother’s Day, the dreams of Million Mom Marchers were stunted. Their planned assaults around the country were by-and-large unsuccessful. The media bestowed very little attention upon them this year, as opposed to last year’s coverage of events. It is rumored that rallies in some states were cancelled due to the inability to organize (read: disinterest), and they found themselves coming up against spawning pro-gun groups such as the Second Amendment Sisters (SAS). The splendid Second Amendment Sisters are entirely a grassroots effort, started by women to help the fight in deterring the propaganda of the MMM’s. This Mother’s Day, in Washington, DC, about 4,000 clear-headed SAS thinkers decided to march in order to counter the false gun "statistics" commonly presented by the anti-gun Left. The spirited SAS’ers clearly kicked their butts in all respects. They sported buttons and signs saying "Clinton sucks" and "We can’t afford four more of Gore," and even booed Clinton as he drove by. Also, SAS held smaller rallies across the nation. Calling its rallies the "Armed Informed Mother’s Rallies," SAS appeared in about sixteen places throughout the US. In addition to SAS, a bunch of "high-caliber" ladies have formed "Women Against Gun Control," an organization dedicated to eradicating myths perpetuated by Hillary, Rosie, Reno, Feinstein, & Company. Also, I recently wrote about a case where soccer moms, tired of the pointless propaganda from the MMM’s, threatened boycotting their soccer league if anti-gun petitioners were not removed from the soccer arena premises. Other pro-gun organizations such as Brass Roots, Gun Owners of America, Keep and Bear Arms, and Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO) are flourishing with new female membership, female attendance at events, and just general interest on the part of women.
You bet I do. June 19, 2001 Karen De Coster [send her mail] is a politically incorrect CPA, and an MA student in economics at Walsh College in Michigan. Copyright © 2001 Karen De Coster |
Thankfully,
women are starting to wake up to the nonsense of self-appointed
do-gooders messing with their freedoms by way of their kids. Enough
is enough, they are saying. As the SAS phrase goes, women are starting
to utter, "Of course I own a gun, don’t you?"