Out Of Control - The

Out Of Control - The Gun Control movement has had a rough couple of years - even before 9/11, their fortunes were waning. Gun control laws were relaxing nationwide, the concealed carry movement was burgeoning even before the attacks (there were eight "shall issue" states in 1983 - we're around 35 today). Municipal lawsuits against gun manufacturers, including Jay Benanav's here in St. Paul, were falling by the wayside by the score.

The Professor, writing on the Fox website, discusses the effect 9/11 had on the gun control movement:

"Properly understood, the gun control movement has always rested on certain essentially religious notions (indeed, though it is little publicized, much of the gun-control movement’s financial and institutional support comes from non-evangelical Protestant denominations). These notions are that violence – even against a criminal – is always bad, that ordinary people are not to be trusted, and that it is best to let the authorities look out for you.

In addition, the movement has always contained a rather strong undercurrent of hostility toward traditional American standards of masculinity, of which it sees the gun as a symbol.

It is here that things seem to have changed the most. Americans have learned that being harmless does not guarantee that they will not be harmed: in fact, it seems that terrorists (like ordinary criminals) actually prefer victims who cannot strike back.

The heroism of ordinary people in the aftermath of the attacks has also undercut the gun control movement’s elitist notions that ordinary Americans are dangerous, violent rubes who must be kept under control. (The absurdity of the chattering classes, with their exaggerated panic over anthrax mail and the ridiculous posturing of some peace advocates, has also served to give elitism a bad name). "