How Pathetic

Josh Horwitz has just one-upped Paul Helmke on the pathetic scale.

Horwitz is the Executive Director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. In a post today at the Huffington Post entitled NRA’s Latest Poster Boy Sounds Like School Shooter, he insinuates that James D’Cruz is another Columbine killer in waiting. He compares quotes on James’ Facebook page to the stuff said by Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris as well as the Virginia Tech killer Seung-Hui Cho and the Pearl, Mississippi school shooter. He then concludes:

The best case scenario here is that D’Cruz is strikingly immature and incapable of handling the serious responsibilities that come with gun ownership. The worst case scenario is that he’s a ticking time bomb in need of psychiatric care. In either case, he’s a poster boy for why we should prevent handgun sales to those under 21 years of age.

Of course it is utter bullshit and could well be considered an actionable case of defamation.

One could very well rewrite Horwitz’s quote to read:

The best case scenario here is that Horwitiz is strikingly immature and incapable of the rational thought needed for serious policy discussion. The worst case is that he’s a ticking time bomb in need of psychiatric care. In either case, he and Paul Helmke are the poster children for the flailing gun control movement which can be seen in their compulsion to demonize an 18 year-old college freshman.

A Cruel Game

The Brady Center is engaged in a cruel game with Texas Tech freshman James D’Cruz. As the lead plaintiff in two lawsuits sponsored by the NRA, he has become the prime target of the Brady Center. The lawsuits challenge respectively the Federal prohibition on sales by FFL’s of handguns to 18-20 years olds and the denial by the State of Texas of Concealed Handgun Licenses to non-veteran, non-military 18-20 year olds.

As Sebastian at SnowFlakesInHell has noted, they have mischaracterized his Facebook page as filled with “angry, violent Facebook postings”. They are now using pictures from his Facebook page in a fundraising campaign.

It is as I say above a cruel game that the Brady Center is playing with D’Cruz. If he complains about it, he will be portrayed as a whining teenager not ready to handle adult responsibilities like being a Concealed Handgun Licensee. If he does not respond to the mischaracterization, they will feel free to continue to vilify him as violent and angry. He’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. Still, given they are going to savage him one way or another, the best thing he probably can do is to do nothing and keep leading the exemplary life that he has led in the past.

I wonder how Paul Helmke would have reacted if his daughters Laura and Kathryn had been attacked when they were 18 like he and the organization he heads are doing to James D’Cruz. I am sure that like any good father he would have been rather angry about it – as well he should.

So then why is it OK to demonize and vilify a young Hispanic male who has led what seems to be an exemplary life and is now a freshman in college?

Brady Campaign Racist?

From the Austin American-Statesman on the D’Cruz cases:

“This is an unprecedented attempt to arm teenagers … even though most states currently restrict them from carrying a concealed weapon,” said Daniel Vice , senior attorney for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence . “Teen gang members could buy guns if this law is changed.”

James D’Cruz is Latino.

James D’Cruz is 18 years old.

By the logic of the Brady Center, the combination of the two makes James D’Cruz a potential “teen gang member”. Nice racial stereotype, isn’t it.

I guess this is no surprise given their recent attack on Mr. D’Cruz where they took Facebook postings out of context to conclude he is fascinated with “with gangsters and outlaws, often quoting them, and include violent, threatening messages.”

By this logic, one would say the Yale Law Class of 1973 was filled with a bunch of hack politicians that slept with staff, attacks 18 year olds, and only got a job due to family connections. It makes as much sense.