Anti-gun activists engage in deliberate deception

Examiner – by Anthony Martin

Anti-gun activists are currently engaging in deliberate deception in the manner in which they describe their intent and in the terms they use to drum up public support for more infringements on the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

The general public at large is oblivious to the deception due to the death of real journalism in America, which is supposed to treat the pronouncements of government and special interests with healthy skepticism. Thus, the mainstream media merely parrots what they are being fed from the Obama administration and leftwing politicians and special interests.

No greater example of the deception exists than the reference to the proposed ban and criminalization of private gun sales in America. These proposals are routinely described as “closing the gun show loophole” and “mandating universal background checkson all gun purchases.”

On the surface such terms sound nice and reasonable, that is, to the uninformed.

But universal background checks is but a euphemism for registering gun owners and banning all private sales of firearms. If a private citizen wishes to sell his gun to another private citizen, such a law will bar him from doing so unless he gets prior permission from the government.

This would demonize the private sale of guns, practically placing it in a category that is next to the sale of cocaine or crystal meth. Are Americans ready to accept such government intrusion into their lives to the point to where legal firearms are prohibited from private sale except by the expressed consent of the government?

The universal background check law would also prevent a citizen from handing down a firearm to a son or daughter or grandchild, or giving a long-cherished gun as a gift to a close friend or family member unless a background check is done and permission is granted by government. Do we really want government telling us we cannot do these things?

Massive non-compliance is sure to be a big problem with this proposed law.

At the heart of the issue of universal background checks is not public safety but control over the general population, particularly those who will bear the biggest brunt of the intrusion — the law abiding citizens. Guns sold privately from citizen to citizen or given as gifts, or handed down to children or grandchildren account for next to zero percent of the violent crimes committed in this country. So, why, then, is this even an issue?

The same question can be asked of the so-called “gun show loophole.” One would think by listening to the mainstream media and liberal politicians that gun shows are cesspools of lawlessness, havens of violent criminals who get their firearms from outlaw vendors who sell their wares at these events.

Such a notion, however, is patently false.

Most of the vendors at gun shows are federally licensed commercial gun dealers, and background checks are run on each customer. A tiny minority of the guns sold at these shows are private vendors who are not required to do a background check. And gain, next to zero percent of the violent crimes committed in this country are done by those who buy their guns from private vendors at gun shows.

So, again, why are gun shows being targeted? The answer is control. Not safety. Not the reduction of violent crime. Not to catch criminals. Criminals largely avoid gun shows because law enforcement officials are in abundance at these events.

Thus, once again, every single rational and prudent course of action to prevent violence and to stop criminals is totally ignored. Rather, the course of action being recommended by Obama, Congressional Democrats, and the anti-gun lobby lowers the boom on the freedoms and rights of law-abiding citizens. Not a single proposal being put forward addresses the problem of massacres such as the one that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

Only when the nation gets serious about keeping violent criminals behind bars for lengthy terms without parole will there be any improvement. Only when America wakes up to its festering simmering problem it has managed to keep covered up under the surface — the failure to deal with the chronic and severely mentally ill — will a dent be made in violent crime. Only when public schools begin to teach moral values again and reintroduce strict discipline will there be any change in behaviors on the streets. And only when parents and the video and movie industry get serious about preventing children from watching violence practically 24/7 will the minds of the young stop being polluted with thoughts of mayhem.

But, you see, these are the hard decisions that must be made, and Americans no longer wish to do anything that requires hard work and constant attention, such as keeping up with what their children are watching and reading.

It is much easier to blame gun owners for violence. And it is much more expedient. And besides, it shifts the attention and blame away from the criminal and society as a whole, and onto an easily targeted false boogeyman, the gun owner.

http://www.examiner.com/article/anti-gun-activists-engage-deliberate-deception