Knee-Jerk Rhetoric on Gun Control Produces Opposite Effects
I had planned to write this two days before Orlando.
There is a predictable series of events associated with mass shootings and gun sales. It goes like this.
1. The media report the shooting.2. Gun control advocates within minutes -- not hours -- go online and call for gun control.
3. If there was an AR-15 involved, the critics will say "assault rifle."
4. Within a week, gun sales rise.
When President Obama does this, the sales are higher, faster.
Bellefonte, Centre County, Pa.A gun shop owner in Centre County says that he has sold between 13,000 and 15,000 semi-automatic rifles on his website since the Orlando mass shooting.
Like moths drawn to a flame, gun control advocates feel compelled to respond in this fashion.
They know about the cause and effect relationship, which is a law of American politics. It literally never fails.
If these people really cared about gun sales, they would stay discreetly silent. But they don't. They won't.
President Obama was on the air within hours. He could not resist.
Today marks the most deadly shooting in American history. The shooter was apparently armed with a handgun and a powerful assault rifle. This massacre is therefore a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or a movie theater, or in a nightclub. And we have to decide if that's the kind of country we want to be. And to actively do nothing is a decision as well.
[This link will die on January 21, 2017.]
The National Rifle Association uses this meme as a recruiting tool.
Obama has zero chance of getting gun control legislation through Congress. He tried this after Sandy Hook. He failed. That does not matter to him. He felt duty-bound to say something after Orlando. He knew that this would lead to more gun sales. He did not care.
Gun owners know by now that Obama has no chance of getting a gun law through Congress. But tens of thousands of them will go out to buy a gun.
Each side follows basic rituals. Each side sees that it has to make a statement. The gun controllers have only verbal statements. Gun owners say nothing. They just go out and buy another gun.
Hostile rhetoric by gun controllers always reinforces the determination of gun rights people to dig in.
It does no good to tell a gun controller not to use the phrase "assault rifle" after a shooting. You can explain that his rhetoric will lead to more gun sales. He does not care. He is not interested in reducing gun sales. He is interested only in making a statement.
It's mostly rhetoric with gun controllers. They need to impress the hard-core troops that the cause is still alive. They are unable to get legislation passed. So, all they have is rhetoric. Rhetoric is their equivalent of a loaded gun. The fact that it's loaded with blanks is irrelevant to them. They want to make noise.
Most people are more interested in symbols than they are in the hard slogging of pressure group politics. They would rather sing the old songs than go to precinct meetings. They want to hear their representatives decry assault rifles. The fact that the sale of assault rifles will increase as a direct result means nothing to them. Collateral damage bothers them not at all.
What is my recommendation? If you don't own a gun, buy one. If you have not had training in using one, get it.
I like rhetoric, too. But I also like action.
A shotgun over the door,
a 30.06 for distance:
You don't need any more.
Skip the assault rifle. They will be in short supply for weeks.
Obama has spoken.