Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN News

Columnist thinks gun owners can be shamed out of their rights

Monday, March 20, 2023

Columnist thinks gun owners can be shamed out of their rights

At least one of the joyless scolds that predominate in gun control circles thinks theyve stumbled onto a novel anti-gun tactic. According to Colorado Newsline Editor Quentin Young, gun control supporters should try to shame gun owners into foregoing their Constitutional rights.

In a piece titled, Stop tolerating gun extremists. Shame them,” Young argues that gun rights supporters can be nagged into submission. The harridan explained The project must start with a shift away from tolerance of gun extremists.” Judging from the rest of the piece, Youngs definition of gun extremist” appears to include anyone who objects to whatever gun control measures Michael Bloomberg’s front-group Everytown for Gun Safety is pushing at the moment.

Young promotes a raft of gun control measures, including a ban on commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms (which he terms assault weapons”) and the criminalization of private firearms transactions (sometimes termed universal background checks”). The columnist also claimed that after slavery and discrimination against women” the Founding Fathers’ “biggest mistake was the Second Amendment,” adding, [t]he amendment should be repealed.”

According to a February 2023 ABC New/Washington Post poll, a majority of Americans oppose a ban on commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms.

Electoral data suggest the public is divided on the criminalization of private transfers. In 2016, Mainers rejected a so-called universal background check ballot measure 52-48 percent and Nevadans approved a similar measure by the narrow margin of 50.45-49.55 percent. In a 2022 piece titled, Voters Say They Want Gun Control. Their Votes Say Something Different,” the New York Times acknowledged that the 2016 results suggested that a national referendum on background checks would have lost.”

According to a 2018 Quinnipiac University Poll, 79 percent of Americans oppose repealing the Second Amendment.

Is it Youngs contention that more than half of Americans are gun extremists?” If so, the journalist” would do well to employ the use of a dictionary. Unlike opposing these gun control measures, the writers call to repeal the Second Amendment is decidedly fringe.

Elaborating on his plan in mawkish tones, Young stated,

Acceptance must cease of these murder-mongers in the media, government, public gatherings and the home next door. No longer can their fanaticism be indulged or their rigidity accommodated. Society must stigmatize them, and they must be rendered culturally odious. Only when gun absolutists become social pariahs can the nation start to establish comprehensive reform.

Castigation must befall anyone who obstructs gun violence prevention. Lawmakers should continue to enact measures to protect constituents from the daily massacres their communities suffer. But members of those communities can participate in the greater reform project by shaming gun proponents wherever they show themselves.

Theres nothing new in Youngs maudlin whining. People far more powerful than this self-important blogger have attempted to demonize guns and gun owners.

Theres a case to be made that President Joe Biden has attempted to paint most American gun owners as sick,” with his inflammatory anti-gun rhetoric.

In 1995, then-U.S. Attorney Eric Holder gave a speech in which he stated, What we need to do is change the way in which people think about guns, especially young people, and make it something thats not cool, that its not acceptable, its not hip to carry a gun anymore, in the way in which we changed our attitudes about cigarettes.” The future Attorney General went on to add, We have to be repetitive about this. Its not enough to have a catchy ad on a Monday and then only do it Monday. We need to do this every day of the week, and just really brainwash people into thinking about guns in a vastly different way.”

The CDCs chief gun control advocate, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Director Mark Rosenberg, pushed for a cultural anti-gun campaign in the early 1990s. In a 1994 interview with the New York Times, Rosenberg said, We need to revolutionize the way we look at guns, like what we did with cigarettes.” The taxpayer-funded activist added, It used to be that smoking was a glamour symbol, cool, sexy, macho. Now it is dirty, deadly and banned.”

So after at least three decades of shaming, how much progress” have gun controllers made?

Since Rosenbergs comments, the U.S. Supreme Court has thrice recognized that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bears arms, the Clinton semi-automatic firearm ban expired and hasnt been renewed, gun owners in all 50 states have a recognized Right-to-Carry, half the states allow concealed carry without a permit, and Americans have purchased a record number of firearms.

It should come as no surprise that this anti-gun strategy hasnt worked. The Second Amendment right is an extension of the natural right to self-defense. As a natural right, it is informed by human nature. To contend that there is something shameful about the natural impulse to defend oneself, family, freedom, home, community, and country using arms is perverse.

Rather, it can be argued, as it was in Jeffrey Snyders famous essay A Nation of Cowards,” that there is something inherently shameful about a society that would encourage its members to simply acquiesce to criminal violence and deprivations of liberty instead of recognizing the right of citizens to confront these threats through the use of arms.

IN THIS ARTICLE
Eric Holder
TRENDING NOW
Colorado: Mandatory Storage Bill Passes General Assembly and Semi-Auto Ban Temporarily Removed from Calendar

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Colorado: Mandatory Storage Bill Passes General Assembly and Semi-Auto Ban Temporarily Removed from Calendar

In a temporary reprieve for Colorado gun owners, the semi-auto ban HB24-1292 has been removed from the calendar. But we cannot let our guard down as gun control advocates can bring it up for a vote at ...

The U.S. Supreme Court Looks at Government “Blacklists”

News  

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

The U.S. Supreme Court Looks at Government “Blacklists”

Much of the attention this past week in the United States Supreme Court was the oral arguments in National Rifle Association of America v. Vullo, No. 22-842, a First Amendment case on whether government officials ...

Colorado: Semi-Auto Ban Passes Committee and Sensitive Places Bill Hearing Rescheduled for Today!

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Colorado: Semi-Auto Ban Passes Committee and Sensitive Places Bill Hearing Rescheduled for Today!

Yesterday the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on House Bill 24-1292, the semi-auto ban, that lasted over 12 hours where hundreds of patriotic Coloradans overloaded the committee with opposition testimony. The hearing concluded with an ...

NRA Files Amicus Brief Asking Supreme Court to Hear Antonyuk v. James

News  

Second Amendment  

Monday, March 25, 2024

NRA Files Amicus Brief Asking Supreme Court to Hear Antonyuk v. James

In response to the NRA’s victory in Bruen, which secured every American’s right to carry arms, NY passed the “Concealed Carry Improvement Act,” severely restricting carry throughout the state. The 2nd Circuit upheld many of ...

25 years and one PLCAA Later, Chicago is Still Harassing Gunmakers

News  

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

25 years and one PLCAA Later, Chicago is Still Harassing Gunmakers

On March 19, the city of Chicago filed suit against handgun manufacturer Glock. Seeking to shift responsibility for the city’s woeful governance, Chicago’s lawsuit blames the popular firearm manufacturer for the third-party criminal misuse of ...

Washington: Governor Signs Anti-Gun Legislation

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Washington: Governor Signs Anti-Gun Legislation

Today, Governor Inslee signed five anti-gun bills into law that were recently passed by the Washington State Legislature. The bills include:

Anti-gun Democrats Seek to Undermine Law Passed to Protect Veterans’ Rights

News  

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Anti-gun Democrats Seek to Undermine Law Passed to Protect Veterans’ Rights

Last week we reported on a major breakthrough on behalf of veterans who risked losing their Second Amendment rights because of a long-running scheme by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to report certain beneficiaries ...

Colorado: Semi-Auto Ban Scheduled for Floor Vote Today!

Thursday, March 21, 2024

Colorado: Semi-Auto Ban Scheduled for Floor Vote Today!

Today, the House is scheduled to vote on HB24-1292, the ban on semi-automatic firearms. Please contact your legislators today by using the button below and urge them to OPPOSE HB24-1292!

Louisiana: Firearms Bills on the Move - Take Action Now!

Monday, March 25, 2024

Louisiana: Firearms Bills on the Move - Take Action Now!

A number of firearm-related bills, including enhanced preemption, are moving in the Louisiana Legislature. It's critical that NRA members and Second Amendment supporters get involved to keep the momentum going!

Pennsylvania: Senate Committee Passes Full Inclusion Sunday Hunting

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Pennsylvania: Senate Committee Passes Full Inclusion Sunday Hunting

On Wednesday, the Senate Game & Fisheries Committee voted 7-4 to pass Senate Bill 67 to the Senate floor for a vote. 

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.