Analysis by Kyle A. Lohmeier
Yesterday, the National Rifle Association released a statement addressing the horrific shooting attack upon concertgoers last weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada. This itself was odd as it had been less than a week and the NRA doesn’t usually respond quickly to such events. And, really, for good reason.
Whenever there’s a horrendous criminal misuse of guns like this, the Left routinely puts the NRA into a Catch-22 where they’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t. The Left demands some sort of statement from the NRA (because, to the Left all shootings are the NRA’s fault) knowing full well nothing the organization can say will assuage their hurt feels. If the NRA says nothing, they’re insensitive. If they say something, they’re callus. They can’t win.
That is, unless they say something the Left wants to hear, which is exactly what Wayne LaPierre and Chris Cox did.
“Despite the fact that the Obama administration approved the sale of bump fire stocks on at least two occasions, the National Rifle Association is calling on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) to immediately review whether these devices comply with federal law. The NRA believes that devices designed to allow semi-automatic rifles to function like fully-automatic rifles should be subject to additional regulations,” the NRA capitulated.
At first blush, this feels a lot like the NRA preemptively surrendering to a democrat minority in both houses while the first sitting president to address their convention in ages is still the sitting president. It makes no sense. If there was ever a time to draw a firm line and make absolutely no compromises with the Left, now through the mid-terms is that time. Yet, there’s the NRA, giving up in the face of snowflakes and their feels.
After all, there is no good reason to ban or restrict the sale of bump-fire stocks like those the gunman is alleged to have used. These stocks, for people who aren’t into dumb gimmicks, seek to use moving parts to harness the firearm’s recoil and assist the user in pulling the trigger faster than one normally could. From the videos I’ve seen, among the most effective ways of using a bump-stock or slide-fire, is to hold the rifle at one’s waist and hook their fingers through their belt-loops. Clearly, these aren’t for the Colonel-Townsend-Whelen-“Only-accurate-rifles-are-interesting” type of shooter. To that type, bump-stocks are goofy, pointless gimmicks good only for wasting ammo and shortening barrel life.
To the Left, however, bump-stocks are a co-creation of Satan and Literally Hitler and are designed to turn the already super-deadly AR-47 into a full blown anti-tank machinegun. They are the perfect lamb for the sacrifice the Left routinely demands after a tragedy and while the bodies are still warm.
Fine, give the Left some regulations on bump-stocks, hell move them under the National Firearm Act’s registration requirements – the Left LOVES registries of things. Move the bill all the way through congress in a display of bipartisan ass-slapping and let Donald Trump sign something even the most die-hard Bernout will have a hard time finding fault with. Everyone wins.
The Left gets to celebrate a much-needed victory, and this time, over the evil NRA to boot. Bonus!
Congress gets to look like it’s doing something useful, and again, bipartisan too. So, bonus!
Real people get to watch the Left go away without them making a bunch of noise about magazine capacity, the Hearing Protection Act, semi-auto functionality and other things we actually do care about a whole lot more than gimmicky stocks. Pacified, the Left lets the matter drop and therefore the national post-shooting panic-ammo-buying-spree is prevented. Super bonus!
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