By Selwyn Duke

A birdcage liner in my county of Westchester, NY, The Journal News, has made national
headlines by releasing the addresses of county residents licensed to own a
handgun. The paper claims that in the wake of the Newtown shooting, citizens
want to know more about the arsenals their neighbors may possess. Of course,
the rag’s real motivation is obvious: it wants to “out” firearms owners. The
thinking is, “Hey, you want to own a gun? Then we’re going to put you in the
pusillanimous people’s pillory, where all things manly and traditional belong.”
Hence the title of the Journal piece,
“The gun owner next door,” which could be followed with “The pedophile next
door” or “The terrorist next door.” Ooh, scary. I’m more worried about the
journalist next door.

Not surprisingly, the paper is taking a lot of heat for
revealing who is packing heat. And one of the more common criticisms reveals a
truth.

Many people have pointed out that the Journal’s article not only alerts us about who is armed, it also
tells criminals who is unarmed and
hence easy prey. This isn’t entirely correct, as the paper could only provide
information about licensed handguns and not far more common (as they don’t have
to be licensed in Westchester) rifles and shotguns or illegally owned weapons.
But that’s irrelevant to the point here. To wit:

If it’s so dangerous to identify homes that are “gun-free”
zones, why do we do it to our schools?

Unlike private residences, a criminal can actually bank on a
school being gun free and thus soft-target rich. And we not only ensure this is
the case, we, incredibly, announce it to
the world.

You don’t have to support Second Amendment rights to accept
my point. You only have to recognize reality. And to analogize the situation,
how secure would our country be if we unilaterally disarmed and then announced
to the world that the US is a weapon-free zone? Sure, you may not like that
nuclear and other weapons exist.

But they do exist.

Aggression exists.

Opportunistic minds exist.

Evil exists.

And there’s nothing more stupid than being a cat that
declaws himself and then brags about his defenselessness.

If anyone disagrees, I ask only that he practice what he
preaches. Get a big sign, and write on it in bold lettering “Gun Free Zone.”

Then put it on your house.

Go ahead. Make a miscreant’s day.

If you’re unwilling to do this, then why would you do it to
America’s schoolchildren? Such a thing isn’t just unwise.

It’s immoral.

Grossly immoral.

After all, you’re then willing to imperil children for…what
reason? Because the symbolism of announcing that you’ve supposedly rid schools of
some evil (that isn’t) makes you feel as if you’ve done your good deed for the
day? Wise up.

Then there’s a truth revealed by the Journal’s urinal-ism itself. Why do residents licensed to own
handguns concern the paper at all? I thought the Assault-stream Media just requested
“reasonable” concessions from gun owners, such as the criminalization of the
AR-15 rifle, the, as some have put it, “scary black gun.” This they want even
though it isn’t as high-powered as many hunting rifles. Even though:

• Its caliber is
  the same as a .22 (small).
• Its rapidity of
  fire is the same as any other semi-automatic firearm, which means most all
  firearms owned in America.
• Such weapons are
  used
  in less than two percent of gun crimes (except for legally owned ones,
  which are used in approximately zero percent of gun crimes).

But, hey, it’s scary.

And black.

And that’s good enough.

But, Journal News,
as with the
New York Post not two weeks ago, we
can see beneath your gun-hater’s hood. You say that all you want is the
criminalization of high-capacity magazines and semi-automatic rifles with a
military appearance. And this is true in a sense. You situational-values-set statists
live in the moment, and such legislation is all you want right now because it’s all you can get right now. But you’re masters
of incrementalism; you say you only want an inch until you can get a foot, and
then you say you only want a foot until you can get the shoe. What I’d give you
is the boot.

This is because I know that liberals remain satisfied with compromises
until about the time the ink dries. They ultimately will never settle for half
a loaf — and they want all our guns. We should only give them all our undying contempt.
 

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