<
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2023/06/02/the-myth-of-the-responsible-gun-owner-an-american-nightmare-part-i/>
"We are increasingly numb to mass shootings, the destruction wrought by an
alienated man (rarely a woman) who uses a weapon designed for war to kill the
innocent at a movie theater or Walmart, synagogue or church, high school or
elementary school. These shootings have become so commonplace that the details
blur: 16 dead and injured at a Texas outlet mall; 36 at an Alabama birthday
party; 14 at a Louisville bank; eight at Nashville Christian school; 21 at a
dance hall in California. Just as unsettling, in some ways, are the shootings
in recent weeks based on what can only be called a hair-trigger response to a
perceived threat. In Kansas City, Missouri, Ralph Yarl, a 16-year-old, was
going to pick up his younger twin siblings from a playdate when he went to the
wrong address and was greeted by 85-year-old Andrew Lester, who shot him in the
head. Yarl is Black, and Lester is white. Around the same time, across the
country in New York State, Kaylin Gillis was heading to a friend’s house when
her boyfriend mistakenly turned into the wrong driveway. Its owner, 65-year-old
Kevin Monahan, fired at the car, killing 20-year-old Gillis. (He’s been charged
with murder.) In Texas, two high school cheerleaders were shot in a supermarket
parking lot after one of them mistakenly entered a car she thought was her own.
Police say that 25-year-old Pedro Tello Rodriguez, Jr. fired multiple shots.
Payton Washington, 18, dressed in her cheerleader outfit, was shot in the back
and nearly died. These were not criminals with a history of mental illness but
legal gun owners who chose to pull the trigger.
Are most gun owners reckless and rage-filled? Probably not. But the data show
that the gun lobby’s promulgated myth of the responsible gun owner is just
that—a myth. An extraordinary number of gun owners are not responsible stewards
of firearms and the assumption that they are informs public policy. Last year,
in an opinion authored by Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court struck down New
York’s 109-year-old gun law, which required gun owners seeking a concealed
carry license to demonstrate “proper cause,” a special need for such
permission. In its ruling, the 6-3 majority repeatedly referred to the rights
of “law-abiding” and “responsible” citizens. Most importantly, more than 230
years after the ratification of the Second Amendment, the Court discovered a
right for these “law-abiding, responsible citizens” to carry handguns in public
for their self-defense."
Via Kevin O'Brien.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
