by In my email this evening I got an email entitled, “Gun Control and the Cultural Divide.” It was from the “Southern Conservative Newsletter” and discussed what they termed Northern and Southern views on guns.
It starts off by saying:
To understand the gun debate, one must know how each side comes to understand guns in the first place. As federal and local lawmakers consider new gun restrictions on law-abiding citizens, how do we shape the debate to actually solve problems such as the safety of our children and the reduction of crime – which are the stated purpose of all gun control efforts?
The email says in the South everyone grew up with guns and if you were part of the gun culture you were left out. Of course, even in the South, not everyone grows up with guns.
When it comes to discussing the gun culture of the North, this email starts talking about Newtown and how gun control measures are a reactionary response. I can agree with that but I also know that response is not “Northern” but more urban in character. While still “discussing” the gun culture of the North, this email says we as Southerners can’t just “cross our arms and just say ‘no’ to any discussion of keeping guns away from criminals and the mentally disturbed” or we’ll be shut out of the discussion.
Now I don’t see anyone in the gun culture, Southern or Northern, just crossing our arms and saying “no” to keeping firearms out of the hands of criminals or the mentally ill. In fact, I see most of the impetus on the mental health front coming from us and not the gun prohibitionists.
The email concludes by saying:
Long prison sentences for those using a gun in a crime, mental health and criminal checks for those wishing to purchase a gun, safety courses – all of these are reasonable ways politicians can reduce criminal use of firearms and protect rights of those who use guns lawfully. We must be the ones to tell them, but we must first understand the nature and thought process of those on the other side of the debate.
Since when did anyone need a “safety course” to enjoy their enumerated rights under the Constitution? And are those “mental health and criminal checks” for firearms purchases meant just for those buying from a dealer or do they extend to private sales as well?
The email has buttons to either signup for the newsletter or to forward it. Both buttons seem to designed to capture email addresses. What makes me even more suspicious of this email is that if you Google “Southern Conservative Newsletter”, you get five results. They are all links to a blog by a liberal Floridian called The Spencerian who is dismissive of the newsletter.
The email address given is for the domain “southernconservativenewsletter.com”. The only problem is that this domain is a parked domain by GoDaddy.Com and they are offering it up for sale.
Call me paranoid or call me suspicious but I don’t trust any so-called conservative newsletter pushing background checks and safety courses in order to own a firearm.
If anyone has heard of this bunch, I’d like to know more.