Immediately following the Sandy Hook shooting, the gun control lobby told us they wanted a conversation with us. They seem to define “conversation” as a plurality of ultimatums. It comes as little surprise that the NRA is giving them nothing they want.
Nor should we. We’re not the ones who turned the murder of 20 children into sickening political theater.
There’s simply no point to bargaining with the anti-gun lobby because that’s the last thing they want. Negotiation implies that each side gives something, but when have they ever given us anything? We have no philosophical or moral obligation to sit down with people who simply want to look noble while chipping away at our rights.
For those who wished the NRA was more “conciliatory,” ask yourself this: when has the anti-gun lobby ever been conciliatory? Never. They’ve always been vengeful, arrogant, and morbid. I remember the rhetoric that preceded the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban. I remember hearing the US Attorney General encourage people to “tell the NRA to get lost.” I remember Senator Feinstein’s pronouncement that the Ban was only a prelude to total gun confiscation.
That’s why I have to admit to a feeling a certain schadenfreude while reading their responses to LaPierre’s speech. They expected us to cower to them, and we haven’t.
And that hacks a bully off more than anything else.
LaPierre’s proposal may or may not have merit as a policy, and it may or may not be workable in practice. That’s irrelevant. The point is that the anti-gun movement made its demands, and he deliberately responded with something they’d find distasteful and unsatisfactory. He’s not going to play ball, and I’m proud of him for that.
2 thoughts on “Sour Grapes”
Amen….
I don’t think there was any expectation of “cowering.” However, it’s pretty silly to talk about everything except guns themselves. Kinda like talking about drunk driving fatalities but refusing to talk about cars.