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Guns, Lies and Hypocrisy
By Fletcher Word
Sojourner’s Truth Editor
Beware the knifing
free-for-alls in London, says the explainer-in-chief of the
National Rifle Association’s goal to arm every citizen with
firearms in an attempt to protect every citizen from attacks
by citizens with firearms. The NRA’s apologist spoke at the
group’s national convention last week in Dallas and
suggested that it really doesn’t matter whether a country
implements gun control or not because people will find
another way to kill each other if guns are banned. Take
London, for example, said the NRA spokesman, who doubles as
the nation’s 45th chief executive.
Trump told the
NRA convention in Dallas that a “once very prestigious”
London hospital was “like a war zone for horrible stabbing
wounds.” He said London has “unbelievably tough gun laws,”
adding, “they don’t have guns; they have knives and instead
there’s blood all over the floors of this hospital.”
Of course he
lied, as he always does. He lies even when he doesn’t have
to – it’s second nature with him.
London’s
murder rate, according to statistics compiled by the United
Nations, is 1.2 per 100,000 residents. New York City’s
murder rate (which is relatively low for a larger American
metropolis) is three times higher than London’s and, on the
other extreme, Baltimore’s is 45 times higher. For the
nations as a whole, the murder rate in the U.S. is five
times that of Great Britain which banned ownership of
handguns in 1996 – six times that of Canada, our northern
neighbor.
Such realities
do not deter the NRA defender in the White House from
repeating the Internet-inspired lies of the horrific knife
blood baths in the UK because, that’s what he does every day
and repeatedly – he lies.
The solution
to all this mayhem and murder, according to the NRA and its
White House spokesman, is not more restrictions but more
weapons. Arm the teachers, arm citizens in public places –
the more weapons, the more protection for every citizen.
And, in spite
of the fact that there are purportedly more firearms in
America than there are citizens, there are still not enough,
say the Second Amendment fanatics. In spite of the
statistics that inform us that countries with fewer guns
have fewer homicides, let’s not let the facts stand in our
way or prevent us from increasing the number of guns
available for our law-abiding citizens.
The president,
vice president, most House of Representatives, most U.S.
Senators, most governors, most state legislators do not
believe in, or profess not to believe in, the efficacy of
gun control. They tote the NRA line because the NRA gives
out big campaign donations to their A-rated elected
officials. In fact, it would appear that there exists only
one government agency that espouses the virtues of gun
control and practices the same. It’s an agency that
practices, in fact, zero tolerance for the possession of
firearms or any lethal substance when its agents are engaged
in that most sacred of duties – protecting lives.
The Secret
Service, unfortunately, is only charged with protecting the
lives of the president, vice president and their families.
The Secret Service does so because it has been authorized by
Congress to do so and it has done so fairly effectively.
Apparently, Congress does sometimes believe that gun control
is practical and effective. It’s been, after all, 37 years
since a president was shot. It all depends on whom one wants
to protect.
The Secret
Service, when one of its clients is facing a public
appearance, prohibits guns, toy guns, selfie sticks, laser
pointers, aerosols, backpacks, signs and all glass, metal or
thermal containers. Thus its client can feel perfectly at
ease and perfectly when standing in front of a harmless,
armless crowd and spouting perfectly absurd lies about the
dangers of gun control and how such a practice would be
ineffective.
The NRA, the
nation’s main proponents of gun rights and guns for all,
preaches the theory of “good guys with guns” – a theory
claiming that if you have a large audience, such as the one
at an NRA convention, the more arms you have, the more fear
you place in the hearts of those wicked people who would
seek to harm others – with firearms, of course. The NRA
leaders and members apparently see no hypocrisy in the fact
that they would extend an invitation to someone to speak at
their convention when those speaker’s protectors overrule
NRA principles and flout their hosts’ cherished ideals.
Our nation’s
liar-in-chief finds no irony in the fact that he and his
family are protected from gun violence by an agency that
practices gun control while he spouts nonsense about gun
rights being a God-given right – as if he has any clue
whatsoever about what God has intended on any subject.
Meanwhile, in
the real world, more than 187,000 students have been
subjected to gun violence since the mass shooting at
Columbine. Think maybe the Secret Service is protecting the
wrong people?
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