Gun Control ≠ Gun Safety

There seems to be an effort going on either in the media or within the gun prohibitionist camp to portray their efforts at gun control and gun banning as gun safety.

Case in point – Jackie Calmes of the New York Times. In her article published Tuesday noting that the NRA was declining to meet with President Obama for his so-called stakeholder’s meeting on gun issues, she referred to the gun control groups as either gun safety advocates or gun safety groups.

From the lead paragraph:

More than two months after the Tucson shootings, the administration is calling together both the gun lobby and gun safety groups to find common ground.

Later, speaking about Mayor Bloomberg and his group of Illegal Mayors, she said:

But gun safety advocates, including a group of mayors headed by Michael R. Bloomberg of New York, called on Mr. Obama to do more, including endorsing legislation to ban high-capacity magazines like those used in the Arizona attack.

I find calling a group like the Brady Campaign a “gun safety” group highly ironic given their rabid opposition to one of the best and tested gun safety programs around. That is, the Eddie Eagle program. Likewise, the Violence Policy Center has opposed the Eddie Eagle gun safety program likening it to “Joe Camel with Feathers”.

Gun control groups are not now nor have they ever been anything that could be remotely called a gun safety group. However, I think we will see them trying to reposition themselves as such in an effort to try and make up all their lost ground with the public. We need to call them and their media allies out on it every time we see or hear that claim.

The Gunny Won’t Like This

If you saw the movie Full Metal Jacket, you know that R. Lee Ermey played drill instructor GySgt Hartman and that Vincent D’Onofrio played Pvt. Pyle. Unlike Mr. D’Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey actually served in the Marine Corps and was a real-life drill instructor. The Gunny is also pro-gun rights.

The Citizens Crime Commission of New York City bills itself as “an independent nonprofit organization working to make criminal justice and public safety policies and practices more effective through innovation, research, and education.” It is also self-described as non-partisan.

To which I say bullshit.

Richard M. Aborn who appears at the end of this little lesson in propaganda is not just some civic minded do-gooder. Read what an organization for whom served as President from 1992 until 1996 says about him:

Mr. Aborn was President of Handgun Control, Inc and the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence from 1992 to 1996.

Richard was one of the principal strategists behind the passage of the landmark Brady Bill and the federal assault weapons and large capacity clips ban. He has testified on Capitol Hill and in numerous state and local legislatures and worked closely with the White House, the Justice Department and the Treasury Department. As one of the chief spokespersons for Handgun Control, Mr. Aborn appeared on numerous national and local television and radio shows.

Currently, Richard is a partner of Constantine Cannon and has over two decades of experience in litigation, public and government affairs, program analysis, management, issue advocacy, and social sector enterprises.

That organization is, of course, the Brady Campaign which was formerly know as Handgun Control, Inc. and the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence. Mr. Aborn is also on the Board of Directors of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence which is actively promoting the video above.

Mr. D’Onofrio is just another actor who has willingly let himself be used by an anti-gun organization.

Why They Hate Us

The Wall Street Journal’s Weekend Edition ran a travelogue by journalist Kate Bolick on her visit to Austin, Texas. On her last day she visited a shooting range. Here is how she described it:

Day Four: Monday
9 a.m. Close out your trip with a bang—literally! Red’s Indoor Range (6200 Highway 290 West; 512-892-4867; redsguns.com) in the aptly named Convict Hill, is only a 15-minute drive away, and for the uninitiated, shooting a gun can be shockingly intoxicating. There’s no better way to imbue yourself with a dose of Texan swagger—and the testosterone rush will embolden you for the trial to come: flying home.

 The gun prohibitionists of the Brady Campaign, the Violence Policy Center, and others of their ilk would have you believe that the only reason to have and shoot a firearm is to kill someone or something. In their dour, almost Calvinistic, worldview, the thought that someone – especially a woman – could enjoy herself by indulging in an hour or two of target shooting is inconceivable. That there are sports like IDPA, sporting clays, and cowboy action shooting which involve firearms and no killing is beyond their comprehension.

I don’t know Ms. Bolick’s background with guns and don’t know if this was the first time she ever handled a firearm but her experience reinforces the idea that taking someone shooting is the best way to inoculate them against the anti-gun message peddled by the prohibitionists and their allies in the media. What these groups fear most of all is the feeling that Ms. Bolick describes – the sheer joy combined with the feeling of empowerment that can come from shooting.

And that is why they hate us.