The New York Times Calls for Gun Confiscation, but Talk is Cheap
Jon Stokes 12.05.15
So many things I could say about this editorial in the NYT, the first front-page one they’ve published in 95 years. It calls for the ban and confiscation of whole categories of weapons.
But I’ll only say one thing, and it’s this:
Millions of Americans will read this editorial. They’ll digest it, and they’ll think about the call for gun confiscation. And they’ll think about it with Paris and San Bernardino still fresh in their mind. Then some non-trivial portion of those people will do something that gun control supporters just don’t do: they’ll act. They’ll get in their car, drive over to the gun shop, and drop almost $1,000 on an AR-15 and ammo, “just in case.” When the NRA sends a mailer, they’ll send money. They’ll call their congresspeople. Many of them will spend money and time on a concealed carry class to get their permit.
And there is the key difference between the two Americas. Self-defense gun buyers are, by definition, pro-active doers, not talkers. They see the news, then they get up and go out and spend when it hurts because they want to Do Something–take real action that they feel will make them safer. Maybe you think they’re delusional, and maybe they are, but that’s not my point. My point is that gun buyers are doers who constantly invest time, money, and effort into something they believe in, and gun control promoters are talkers. Even their rallies are sparsely attended; they talk and talk, mostly about Doing Something, but they themselves don’t actually, physically do or spend anything.
Talk is cheap, NYT. What are you actually prepared to do?
