Opinion
United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- The October 2021 print issue of The Atlantic features an article by David Frum claiming that responsible gun ownership is a lie.
Loyal AmmoLand News readers know that Frum is the one who is lying. In fact, Frum’s article has a buffet of triple whoppers with bacon and cheese (apologies to the Burger King menu item). That said, this is an important article to read and understand.
Why? Because Frum is not talking to us, or even trying to convince us. Instead, his audience is others among the usual Acela Corridor/Hollywood/Silicon Valley elites, who are eyeing potential Supreme Court rulings in cases like New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen with no small degree of dread. While Second Amendment supporters are on the cusp of some significant legal victories, whether or not those victories are decisive as opposed to fleeting depends on how well we make our case to America.
We cannot make that case without trying to understand just what our enemies are trying to do. Frum’s article is instructive in this, especially as he cites Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), and he makes the absurd claim the Moms Demand Action is somehow the same thing.
However, Frum misses one very big fundamental difference:
MADD ultimately sought enforcement of drunk driving laws, and also to toughen the penalties for those who chose to break the law. Moms Demand Action is demanding that tens of millions of responsible gun owners be punished for horrific crimes and acts of madness they did not commit.
Furthermore, the statistics actually sink Frum’s argument as well.
When one considers that there are about 400 million firearms in the United States, if anything, the stats bear witness that the vast majority of those who choose to exercise their Second Amendment rights do so responsibly.
According to USAFacts.com, there were 39,707 deaths involving firearms from all causes. That is one death for every 10,073.7905155 firearms. In addition, of those deaths, 23,914 were from suicide, only 486 were characterized as unintentional, 346 were undetermined, 520 were from “legal intervention,” and 14,414 were homicides. Subtract the 520 “legal intervention” cases, and the ratio goes to two firearms out of every 20,415 that are misused, using the widest possible definition of “irresponsible.”
Now, suicide prevention efforts have been discussed on AmmoLand News before, both in the context of legislation and those carried out amongst the Second Amendment community. That is a complex issue, and not necessarily the result of irresponsibility. In addition, the undetermined cases are, by their very nature, impossible to definitively label as the result of “irresponsibility.”
So, in reality, the only definitively “irresponsible” cases of firearms ownership fall under homicide and unintentional, and that comes to 14,900 deaths – one death from definitive “irresponsibility” for every 26,845.6375839 firearms.
So, Frum’s misdirection is apparent at this point. But remember, he’s not trying to convince us. Who is he trying to convince? CEOs, the upper and middle management types, and members of the professional class (like doctors) who are the audience The Atlantic tends to reach. Frum postulates that the best way to eventually enact anti-Second Amendment legislation is to shrink gun ownership by convincing gun owners (or their descendants) to give up gun ownership.
As important as efforts in the political, legislative, and legal arenas are, the fact is, financial blacklisting and social stigmatization are also serious threats to the Second Amendment, and Second Amendment supporters need to work on the one-on-one advocacy to save our rights. The fight for our freedoms is a full-spectrum fight that must be taken seriously.
About Harold Hutchison
Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.
The post Responsible Gun Ownership IS Real, So Who Is the Liar Here? appeared first on AmmoLand.com.
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