Guns, Gundiots, And Government

By Michael The Libertarian

There are times, when I “bump up” against my ethics. To be sure, my personal ethics are somewhat (That's pronounced: “A lot”, for those of you in Poughkeepsie) more stringent than my professional ethics.

I have a wonderful story I could tell you, but my friend (to whom I'll refer as “Mr. X”) won't allow me to tell his story. Most would just tell the story, use the pseudonym, and change a few details in the story to protect Mr. X's anonymity. I can't do that because I don't want to change any of the details. Doing so, would ruin the story. I will continue to “work on” Mr. X, but his humility knows no bounds.

So? What do I do, now? Well, scraping the old “Hillary” scab is always good for a few words, but I'm afraid the wound might infect and, therefore, start smelling worse than it already does.

The NFL? Nah. I'm done with them. The players and the NFL, itself have combined to ruin that sport for me.

I have the answer, but first, I'll have to do something I rarely do. I'm going to have to assign you some “Homework”. I would re-post the article here and offer proper attribution, but it is a long read (about 8 minutes) and I don't want to appear to be using someone else's words to fill space in my column. Please read: THIS and then, come back to me?

The author, Mr. Greene, makes a great case for all the arguments in favor of gun control. In fact, he states he used to be a gun control advocate.

He makes the case that the argument hinges on reliance on/distrust of government. I think he almost has it.

Mr. Greene believes the Left (generally) believes the government is responsible for keeping every citizen safe from any kind of harm. It is their argument for gun control as well as single-payer health insurance (How health insurance prevents disease or death is beyond me, but c'est la víe!).

He goes on to say people on the Right believe in self-reliance and share the same general distrust of governments that our founders did; even to the point of encouraging and engendering the spirit of revolution to which we owe our birth.

I would almost agree with him, whole-heartedly save a couple of stories that “had some legs” over the last eighteen months or so.

I hesitate to do this, also, but here is the result of a quick Google search of gun sales spike after the Pulse Nightclub shooting. Please take note of the sources for those stories:

Christian Science Monitor (I guess we could count them as being on the “Right”)

NBC News – Left leaning, at a minimum.

QZ – no clue/personal knowledge.

L.A. Times – somewhere to the Left of Che Guevara.

USA Today – Left.

Townhall – Right.

Rolling Stone – is there any doubt?

Newsweek – Left.

The Guardian – No clue.

The Independent – I believe they're Left.

So, a reasonable smattering of Left and Right sources that all attribute a spike in gun sales to the LGBTQ(More capital letters to follow as new designations come to light) community. Not to paint with too broad a brush, but we all know the members of that community tend to vote Lefty. So, the Left appears to not always be against citizens owning guns. It certainly doesn't seem like some Lefties are all that trusting of the government and it bears noting that Ol' Dumbo Ears was still president, at the time and most people in this country (especially the Left) believed that Shrillary's coronation was just a few months away.

Then, I thought about another spike in gun sales …

So, I typed: “Rise in gun purchases by Liberals due to Trump”

You can see the results. Notice again, there are plenty of “bastions of Lefty thought” on that first page, also. So what gives?

Well, in that case, it would appear that Lefties did start buying up guns because of a “fear” of (at least one, particular) government.

I remember the Right, being criticized for similar behavior because they were buying types of ammunition which the government had been unsuccessful outlawing under Obama so, the government just started buying the ammo to keep it off the market.

Anyway, it would appear that “fear of the government” like all things in the Lefty world is legitimate when they (the self-appointed arbiters of truth and morality) decide it is.

These two stories though, give me hope. People who have been so staunchly anti-gun might finally be coming around to the understanding of guns, being useful tools in defense against potentially tyrannical governments (according to Jefferson et. Al., ALL governments eventually become tyrannical).

Maybe, the Left is moving toward Center? Nah, but we can live in hope. No the driving force of the Left seems to be inconsistency and hypocrisy. So mote it be.

- Michael

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