Anti-Gun Zealots: Please Shut Up

I already know the anti-gun zealots’ talking points on the Orlando gay nightclub tragedy. If it weren’t so tragic, it would be boring.

You don’t need to turn on CNN, MSNBC, or turn to HuffPost. I can tell you what they’re saying:

#1 “It’s a gun related tragedy. Guns kill people. If we outlawed guns, it would not be possible to kill people. So let’s outlaw guns, already. People have nothing to do with it; it’s all the gun’s fault. What are you, a racist?”

# 2 [If domestic terrorism, insert the following here]: “You see? Hate is running through America. It’s Donald Trump’s fault. IF we outlawed speech, and directed our violence against Donald Trump, anyone who supports him, and anyone who objects to Hillary Clinton’s and Barack Obama’s ideas and policies, then all would be well. It’s time to outlaw hate speech! Something has got to be done!”

# 3 [If a lone gunman, insert the following here]: See # 2 above.

# 4 [If international, ISIS-inspired terrorism, insert the following here]: “It’s not about Islam. It’s not about religion. It’s about guns. Gays, lesbians and Muslims share status as victims of imperialist, racist white men [like Donald Trump]. Islam means peace and love. Don’t turn your anger on Islam. Turn your anger on guns. Oh, and if you don’t agree, the U.S. Attorney General promises to go after those who engage in hate speech against Islam.”

#5 “Hillary Clinton will appoint the ninth and tie-breaking member of the Supreme Court, who will take care of the gun problem. If you don’t vote for Hillary Clinton, then you are guilty of murder, as well as hate speech. You should be treated accordingly.”

When a drunk driver kills an innocent pedestrian, we don’t call it a “car-related” tragedy. We call it a drunk driving tragedy. Yet with gun-related violence, we fixate on the weapon and completely ignore all other factors (particularly when the shooter is Muslim).

It makes total sense that progressives are pro-gun control. Progressives are the ones who find a government solution for everything. “There ought to be a law” is their solution to any conceivable problem. If Freud were alive, he’d call it a wish-fulfillment mechanism. I call it magical thinking. It’s all fantasy. It’s a fantasy that some authority figure will somehow take care of us, against all reason, regardless of any known facts. They actually think that if you pass a law making guns illegal, it will stop people who wish to do evil and destructive things from doing those things. “Government has the power to stop it by fulfilling my wish.” Some cherished political hack signs a law in the Rose Garden of the White House, and magically, all is well. (Just like Obamacare, right?) But these are the same people who believe that government can create a vibrant economy, generate first-rate medical care out of nothing, and provide utopia on earth at no effort (except to the hated 1 percent, and they have no rights, anyway). Progressives who inhabit our media, executive and judicial establishment are wrong about virtually everything. Why on earth should we listen to them about guns?

Blaming criminal actions on guns is like blaming financial crimes on money – “If there were no money, financial crimes would not be possible.” Actually, socialists like Bernie Sanders already kind of believe that. Or blaming hateful atrocities (like Nazi Germany, or shoot ups in discos) on the existence of oxygen – “If people could not breathe, we would not have the space in which to do these things.” Actually, the most extreme environmentalists already believe human beings are a blight on the planet. These are not the kind of people from whom we should seek guidance on how to combat crime.

I am sick of the lecturing and sermonizing of anti-gun zealots. “Oh, I hate guns,” they say, with sneering and condescending superiority. The implication is that to hate guns is to hate the kind of violence we too often see take place. What rational person could not detest that horrific violence? But the issue is not guns; the issue is in whose hands the guns are located. The peaceful people who own guns for self-defense are not causing this violence. The people who will continue to commit acts of violence or terrorism will continue to do so, whether we confiscate the guns from peace-loving people, or not.

Stop exploiting the slaughtered, you high priests and priestesses of gun bans. Stop insisting that the only way to stop these things from happening is to repeal the First and Second Amendments. Even if that were true, it would not be worth it to live in a world with no liberty. Totalitarian dictatorships are dull, gray, depressing places. Far more innocent people die in dictatorships than in free countries, or even semi-free countries such as our own.

Terrorists are pushing Americans to give up on individual rights and freedom, to throw away a precious legacy so few in human history have ever enjoyed. If we bow our heads and give in, then that’s on us – not the terrorists.