There’s been a disturbing pivot among gun control advocates of late. On the ropes after being roundly defeated at the polls, they’re turning up at other people’s rallies to plead their own case. While pledging allegiance to multiple causes, they’re making common cause with anyone else who currently has a beef—especially if they have a newsworthy march or rally scheduled.
If this were the internet, we’d call it “hijacking the thread.” In the movies, it would be a scene from “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” Ol’ Pappy has rushed the concert hall stage to bore us by stumping for re-election.
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It’s certainly no less annoying when it occurs in real life. For example, the day before Wednesday’s “Day Without A Woman,” Moms Demand Action’s Shannon Watts penned a press release to steal some news coverage:
“Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a part of Everytown for Gun Safety, announced today the organization will participate in the Women’s March on Washington’s ‘Day Without a Woman,’ a one-day demonstration of economic solidarity in support of equity, justice and human rights of women and all gender-oppressed people happening tomorrow on International Women’s Day, March 8.”
One might think that for MDA’s support to be meaningful, they’d announce it long before this. Don’t they need to give their supporters time to make travel plans? Let’s read on: “Gun violence is a women’s issue, too; American women are 16 times more likely to be shot and killed than women in peer nations. That is why tomorrow, on International Women’s Day, Moms Demand Action will support our volunteers who choose to participate in the Women’s March on Washington’s ‘Day Without a Woman.’ From wearing our red Moms Demand Action t-shirts, to leveraging our economic power, to sharing the stories of our fearless volunteers and survivors—we stand with the Women’s March and everyone working to make equality, justice and human rights of all women a national conversation.” MDA’s support consisted of wearing their red t-shirts, buying a Starbucks and telling their own stories? How about some buses or sack lunches? No?
So, to be clear here: MDA’s support consisted of wearing their red t-shirts, buying a Starbucks and telling their own stories? How about some buses or sack lunches? No? Geez, even a local used car lot can spring for a bottle of water with its logo on it.
Perhaps Lucy McBath, Everytown For Gun Safety’s Faith and Outreach leader, can offer meaningful support: “As gun violence prevention activists and as women, we do not and cannot lead single-issue lives. We know that by using our voices, votes and wallets, we can push back against the misogyny, racism, homophobia, xenophobia, transphobia, anti-immigrant rhetoric and religious intolerance that shape many of our realities today.”
That’s a lot of causes. Let’s read on to see MacBath bring the full weight of MDA to bear: “And that is why tomorrow—(here it comes) and everyday—(wait, er … what?) we will continue to challenge ourselves to fight for what is right and protect those who cannot protect themselves, together.”
Perhaps you share my sense of disappointment.
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On March 3, the former director of Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Mark Glaze, joined Igor Volsky, director of Guns Down, a group that claims to be “building a movement for dramatically fewer guns in America,” to write a column at The Advocate website titled, “Don’t Take Your Eyes Off The Issue Of Our Time—Gun Control.”
The Advocate is an LGBTQ media/advocacy organization. I wonder if The Advocate’s readers were shocked to learn that gun control was really the issue of their time—not discrimination, hate crimes or the HIV/AIDS epidemic?
Listen while Volsky and Glaze state their case: “Our vision is simple, and unlike the gun lobby's, it’s actually supported by reality—which is precisely why the gun lobby continues to oppose scientific studies on gun violence. Legally obtained or not, whether by ‘good guys’ or ‘bad guys,’ guns are the problem. If we’re serious about saving lives, we need to build a bolder, broader movement that finally tackles the problem at its core. We need to go after guns themselves.”
In other words, Volsky and Glaze are lecturing the LGBTQ community to stop all this misguided activism on peripheral gay rights issues and focus on the real problem—guns.
“Meanwhile, hate crimes based on sexual orientation also increased, according to the FBI. The problem, of course, isn’t just bias. It’s a toxic culture—in Donald Trump’s America—in which hateful rhetoric is weaponized by easy access to firearms.”
Of course: Let’s make gays safer by restricting their access to firearms with which to defend themselves against this rising tide of hate crime. Makes perfect sense.
While busy making their cause the cause of the LGBTQ community, Volsky and Glaze unwittingly dropped one kernel of truth: “And those who are most subject to prejudice are in the greatest danger.”
Finally, we agree on something.
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The Second Amendment exists to guarantee the right of ALL Americans to defend themselves and their loved ones against bodily harm. It is the only method by which playing fields can be leveled for the weak vs. the powerful, the few vs. the many, the poor vs. the wealthy. Throughout history, marginalized minorities, struggling to be treated fairly, prove the case for armed self-defense—the most basic of all human rights. I wonder if The Advocate’s readers were shocked to learn that gun control was really the issue of their time—not discrimination, hate crimes or the HIV/AIDS epidemic?
The Deacons for Defense and Justice, who volunteered as armed bodyguards during the civil rights struggle; the armed Korean-American shopkeepers, who defended their businesses from rioters in Los Angeles in 1992; even the Pink Pistols, who train and advocate for the right to keep and bear arms in the LGBTQ community—all are manifestations of the belief that the Second Amendment is sometimes the only thing standing between them and obliteration. It does not threaten life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; it ensures it.
Beware those who would take away that right, claiming to be on your side; they are wolves, dressed in your clothing.
Clay Turner is the creative director for America’s 1st Freedom magazine, an official journal of the NRA, as well as the daily news website, Americas1stFreedom.org. He shoots just enough to maintain an A rating with the United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA).
