U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., has the right mindset about violence that is perpetrated with guns. Just because someone falls victim to a criminal who uses a gun, that does not mean that guns are bad.
What a refreshing approach—refreshing enough that anti-gunners just can’t seem to wrap their head around the concept.
Whoopi Goldberg, a host on “The View,” peppered Scalise with questions about why he refuses to advocate for gun control, despite the fact that he was shot by a deranged gunman during a softball game more than a year ago.
The simple answer shouldn’t surprise gun owners, but it probably shook Goldberg.
“I’ve got deep-rooted conservative beliefs but they’re rooted in what the fundamental foundation of this country is based on,” Scalise said. And one plank of this country’s foundation concerns the right to self-defense.
“I mean when the Constitution was written initially they didn’t have a protection for guns because our founders just thought it was an assumed right,” he said, “later they added it in the Bill of Rights as the Second Amendment but they felt very strongly that every American has the right to defend themselves.”
Even then, apparently, this young nation’s leaders realized that bad things can happen to good people. It could be an attack by wildlife, or it could be dealing with a person who is intent upon harming you. Regardless, the fact is that police don’t exist to protect people misdeeds before they happen; the police merely put together the pieces in an effort to punish the evil-doer afterward.
That doesn’t do an individual a lot of good when his home is broken into and someone tries to kill them.
When Goldberg said that the Second Amendment pertained specifically to militia, Scalise rebuffed her, saying that question had been decided by the Supreme Court in the Heller case.
“The Supreme Court by the way answered this question a few years ago,” he said, “it was a 5-4 decision which is concerning I mean it should’ve been a 9-0 decision, but the Supreme Court said very clearly that you can own a gun not just as a member of the military but also individually to protect yourself and so that is the true meaning of the Second Amendment.”
Kind of makes you wonder how much dead air time was edited out when his answer surely left Goldberg speechless. Her neural circuitry most likely resembled the screens of white noise that used to be prevalent during the days of antenna television.
