This Is What Democracy Looks Like
By Mitch Berg
In the four months since Sandy Hook and the Administration’s declaration of war on the law-abiding gun owner, twice as many states have strengthened their observance of the Second Amendment as have weakened it.
Although note that the Wall Street Journal article on the subject and its attendant illustrations…
…invert the meanings of “strengthen” and “weaken”, in their New York-centered way.
And yet the media continues to claim astronomical percentages of the people support anti-gun legislation.
April 9th, 2013 at 10:54 am
Wow, where is Dog Gone when we need her to do some Fact Checking? Looks like the WSJ engaged in a bit of partisan cherry-picking to make their map. Example:
Arkansas is painted green meaning they voted to “Strengthen” gun laws. But look at the actual laws:
AR H-1503, makes straw-man purchase illegal . . . sent to Governor (S)
AR S-170, allow pregnant woman to use deadly force with no duty to retreat . . . enacted (W)
AR H-1243, allow CCW holding staff and faculty to carry on-campus . . . enacted (W)
AR S-131, prohibits release of gun owner information …enacted (W)
AR S-71, allow guns in church…enacted (W)
Only ONE of these is rated as “strengthen” but all the others are rated as “weaken” and they were IGNORED to paint the state green. And the “strengthen” one is simply the state-version of the existing federal law so it doesn’t really add strength (but it might add accountability, if state prosecutors are more willing to go after criminals than Obama’s “Justice” Department has been).
Nice catch, Mitch. This is an eye-opener.
April 9th, 2013 at 11:27 am
I agree that a majority of American support legislation that is portrayed to enhance safety. So do I, at least if I only considered it in the broad strokes that the media chooses to use to paint the language they support. Well, maybe not that much since I am quite involved in the gun issue. However, if this were about motorcycle laws, I would probably take things at face value.
Universal background check (UBC) is an inocuous, soccer mom-friendly term, like “crime prevention,” “gun safety,” and the plethora of other ambigous but logical-sounding terms intentionally being used in the MSM.
The registration aspect of mandatory UBC for all private sales has yet to be addressed, at least in a meaningful way. Are all in favor of UBC still in favor after that is clarified?
An evil “black gun” is always shown as a representative “assault weapon,” not the Ruger 10/22 many have grown-up with or Grandpa’s captured Luger. Still hate these evil killing machines?
Who’s in favor of meaningful crime prevention? Everyone? Great. Now here’s the plan; lets start rounding up the people most statistically likely to commit crimes (age, gender, and you-know-what) and impose extra sanctions on them (curfew, inability to consume legal substances, require them to submit to random searches and checks, and double the criminal penalties they face for committing crimes). Think that wouldn’t save that magical “just one life?” What are you complaining about? You told us that you wanted crime prevention but didn’t bother to ask for the details – isn’t that where the devil is?
The MSM is likely correct in their raw, unadorned assessment. If the full implications of their fright-inducing language were fully portrayed, the numbers might be different and so might be the maps. At least I hope so …
April 9th, 2013 at 11:29 am
And yet the media continues to claim astronomical percentages of the people support anti-gun legislation.
We don’t allow people to vote on taking away civil rights!
April 9th, 2013 at 12:08 pm
Regarding the Arkansas laws, isn’t a straw man purchase already illegal under federal law? Or are they hoping the the BATFE tries a “Fast and Furious” in Arkansas, after which they can jail the BATFE perpetrators?
At any rate, we could use some of that strict gun control they’re enacting in Arkansas.
April 9th, 2013 at 12:34 pm
Bubbasan … I was wondering the same. Your suggestion makes a great deal of sense. The reptile Bloomberg was playing strawman (person?) games too, even without any color of legal jurisdiction, just for his side project. I’ll hope that’s true and catches on.
My heart goes out to the Sandyhook parents who are being so shamelessly exploited by the president. Those poor people would do anything to alleviate their agony and President Obama isn’t afraid to use that, knowing full well that their situation is completely irrelevant to what he’s pimping. Anyone who doesn’t see this and condemn it is no better than he is.
May God bless and grant peace the grieving parents and their children.
April 9th, 2013 at 3:03 pm
Joe nails it on the sanctomonious b—–d Bloomberg.
April 9th, 2013 at 3:32 pm
So, did Utah, Ark and Miss strengthen their lows before they weakened them, or other way around.
WSJ is using populist logic – more people live in NY than in flyover country, hence mroe people support gun control. Thank g*d we are still a republic and not a democracy!