So Shall Kim Ode Reap

Nothing in the world can be worse than losing a child. Losing one, especially to a freak, preventable accident, has to be one of the worst gut-shots life can deal out, especially in an age when "child mortality" seems a historical relic or a warning about life in the Third World.

So Lori Riley's loss - her son Jacob was killed in a gun accident - is truly heart-rending.

Kim Ode tells Riley's story. Riley has been travelling the state urging parents to ask other parents - their kids' friends' parents - if there are guns in the house, and if they're secured. She also hands out trigger locks.

Fair enough. What could be wrong with that?

The backstory - the one that Kim Ode hints at, but can't or won't go into.

But Ode also says:

We're supposed to ask other parents if there are guns in their homes. Simple, right? As if asking will keep all the dragons at bay. We ask about other things -- peanuts for allergies or helmets for biking. But guns? Yikes. The question feels accusatory, political, nosy or just plain paranoid.

Yep. It does. Thanks for nothing, Kim Ode; you and your newspaper played a big part in that. For years the Star Tribune parroted without challenge the slanders of Matt Entenza and Wes "Lying Sack of Filth" Skoglund and Rebecca Thoman; your columnists routinely portrayed gun owners as drooling philistines, irresponsible rednecks, fevered fetishists compensating for sexual problems.

There is a defensiveness to Second Amendment activists. Statistically the law-abiding gun owner is less likely to commit any sort of crime than non-gun-owners, in fact, we shooters are pretty good people by :

Don B. Kates, Jr. and former HCI contributor Dr. Patricia Harris have pointed out, "[s]tudies consistently show that, on the average, gun owners are better educated and have more prestigious jobs than non-owners.... Later studies show that gun owners are less likely than non-owners to approve of police brutality, violence against dissenters, etc."

in short, as a group the law-abiding gun owner has not only done nothing to deserve the stereotypes that Kim Ode's employer has been instrumental in drilling into people's heads, but when actual facts are known we completely refute them.

And the "just ask" movement comes with some of its own baggage; I've met enough Kedwards sticker-bedecked Volvo-driving, free-range-alpaca wearing, perfectly-starved matrons from Highland Park who's sniffed "...I'd never allow Ashley to play at a house with a pedophile or a crack dealer or a gun owner..." over their lattes to know that it's a very, very personal thing to too many antis.

Speaking of baggage; to whom does Ms. Riley report?:

The Citizens for a Safer Minnesota are trying to make this as painless as possible, but they know it takes some practice. Its annual ASK campaign -- for Asking Saves Kids -- kicks off on Tuesday, the first day of summer.

Doh. Our old friends at Citizens for a Supine Safer Minnesota, an astroturf, checkbook-advocacy group that has made a practice of slandering the law-abiding gun owner for its entire existence.

So yeah - if a parent who I have reason to believe is an anti calls and asks "are there any guns in your house?" (it's never happened, actually), I do question their motivations, and the information behind them. It's usually stereotypes, they're usually wrong, and they got there with the help of the Star-Tribune, which pays Kim Ode's salary.

You helped create the problem that you're complaining about, Kim Ode. What are you going to do about it?

(Via Rosenberg)

Posted by Mitch at June 22, 2005 08:37 AM | TrackBack