WORDS HAVE MEANING, OR AT LEAST THEY SHOULD

By Bob Walsh

It seems that there was an incident of “senseless gun violence” in Los Angeles early Saturday morning. At least that’s what Mayor Eric Garcetti said, and he wouldn’t tweak things to suit a political agenda, would he?

The shooting went down at a home that had been converted into a restaurant in a working-class neighborhood west of downtown. Three people are dead and 12 more injured. Of that 12, two are unlikely to survive.

The cops are looking for one shooter, who may or may not be black, who may or may not have had a female accomplice. The couple left the restaurant shortly after midnight, then returned and the shooting started.

What bothers me about this story, obviously, is the phrase “gun violence.” Did the gun just walk into the restaurant all by itself and begin firing? Probably not. Had a guy walked in with a machete and started carving on people would the mayor have called it an epidemic of “machete violence?” Probably not. There would be no political advantage from doing so.

“Gun violence” is a politically loaded, and politically expedient, term. It allows mentally defective people like Gavin Newsom and Hillary Clinton to attack gun, and people who own guns, rather than the criminals who use them in an illegal fashion. Hillary has already said that she believes that the Second Amendment is NOT an individual right. She will, if given the opportunity, appoint federal judges who share that position and will vote accordingly

REGARDLESS of what the constitution actually says. Gavin Newsom is even now actively working to make it virtually impossible to buy small-arms ammunition in the formerly great state of California and to make it both difficult and illegal for California residents to buy ammunition elsewhere. The November ballot will be the first round of his fight to do so. He may very well succeed unless the courts tell him otherwise.

It’s comparatively easy to go after honest law-abiding gun owners because they ARE honest and law-abiding. It is harder to go after criminals, because they ARE criminals. Politicians often go for the low-hanging fruit, and we often let them.