As the Governor of California, Ronald Reagan banned open carry of guns; he also supported the Brady Bill. George H.W. Bush resigned from the NRA because of its vile rhetoric aimed at those who supported sensible gun legislation. Chief Justice Warren Burger, appointed by Richard Nixon, called the NRA’s misuse of the second amendment the biggest lie ever told. After retirement, he expressed his beliefs about the gun lobby: He accused gun groups of spreading “calculated disinformation” in arguing that the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms made gun controls unconstitutional. “A fraud on the American public.” That’s how former Chief Justice Warren Burger described the idea that the Second Amendment gives a free individual right to a gun.
These were Republicans; I don’t know what this group which calls themselves “Republicans” is today, but they certainly have not earned the right to align themselves with past patriots who served the American people.
The entire blame for 33,000 innocent deaths by a gun each year, or the fact that there were more mass shootings in 2015 than days in the year, cannot be blamed solely on the NRA gun lobby. Republicans have but a single cause; reelection. For them it is party before people. To give you, the reader, just a single example of why Republicans love the NRA and hate the American people, consider the fact that Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell received more than one million dollars from the NRA for his last reelection campaign.
When did the NRA cease its existence as a gun safety advocate and become a lobby for gun manufacturers and gun sellers? It began in 1975/1976, when it realized that misrepresenting the second amendment could be profitable. Prior to the mid-70’s, it was generally understood that the second amendment was written in a vague and contentious effort between groups which opposed and accepted the Constitution. Its ambiguity results from the fact that colonists already possessed muskets, and the government had no intention of removing them. The capitalization of the word “State” is symbolic and informative; the use of a small ‘s’ would denote individual state’s rights or needs, while the large ‘S’ referred to the Union. Included in the arguments regarding the second amendment were the demands of slave owners who sought the prevention of guns in the possession of their slaves.
Prior to 1976 the NRA was the author of most of our gun laws. They supported the ownership of guns, but also sought to prevent unnecessary deaths from their use.
Today’s NRA relishes in the number of those killed each year by the use of a weapon of mass destruction. Fear and panic falsely created by the NRA have resulted in record sales of all types of lethal weapons.
Bluntly put, the NRA has completely misrepresented the need of a gun in the home to protect individuals and families. Because of its lies and misdirection, it is now far more dangerous to go to a movie, a nightclub, a restaurant, a church, or to send your child to school.
Be fooled if you choose, but do not deny the facts; that would make you a fool.
Op-Ed
By James Turnage
Photo Courtesy of DonkeyHotey
The Truth With No Restrictions 