Opinion: Another Argument About Automatic ARs
Students lie-in at the White House on Feb. 19 to protest gun laws. The demonstration was organized by Teens For Gun Reform, an organization created by students in the Washington DC area, in the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. (Photo Lorie Shaull/Flickr)
By Scott Moore, Columnist
Like most of America, I find myself hardly paying attention to our weekly mass shootings these days. It isn’t that we have become soulless monsters unable to feel empathy for innocent victims and their families; it’s simply that they have become such a regular occurrence that it is difficult to care anymore unless we have been directly affected. Like terrorist attacks in France or missing Malaysian airplanes we shrug them off as an unfortunate fact of the world which will probably never touch our own lives. There are the activists of course, many of whom seem to be currently convinced that the problem will be solved by keeping those awful Tide Pod eating kids and the mentally ill away from guns, apparently forgetting about the healthy sixty-four-year-old man who committed the worst mass shooting in American history (but then again who hasn’t forgotten about that one). For the most part though, we argue for a week or two and move on to the next controversy that rears its head.
I was therefore somewhat perplexed when this latest massacre roused a vital demographic in this country to action; for the first time the people who will truly decide the future of our nation have come together in force to change the gun laws and ensure their own safety. And no, I am not referring to high school students, most of whom are content to keep making post-ironic memes which embrace the absurdity of our school shooting fad. No, I am of course referring to our beloved corporations, currently tripping over each other in their scramble to abandon even the most obscure connections to the National Rifle Association or firearms industry. It is fascinating to observe the sudden response; like a particularly osmatic herd of gazelle catching the scent of an approaching lioness in the wind our heroic corporations have sensed a subtle shift in the gun control debate and begun to flee en masse from the more problematic side of the aisle.
There is nothing shocking about the concept of some brave cabal of executives deciding to settle the gun issue in and of itself; in truth I am surprised they have taken so long to do so. What is somewhat shocking is the readiness with which the left has embraced the idea of big business overtly wading into the political realm. The same individuals who will, without a hint of irony, claim to be resisting the nefarious influence of money on our government are all too happy to ally with those interests when it serves their own causes. True, the case could be made that it is really all grassroots pressure being applied to these companies that has changed their minds, but realistically, is the mere threat of a boycott by a handful of activists going to force a large airline or insurance company to engage in such enthusiastic virtue signaling? No, the American left does not get to role play as the resistance to moneyed interests anymore. It is time for our progressives to accept the fact that the corporations are on their side and have been for years. This is where all of those funny fast food tweets and rainbow Oreos have taken us. As a great man once said, we truly are living in a clown world. Whatever your feelings (if you have any) on the gun control debate, take a moment to consider where the real money is here. Then you can go back to ignoring the subject entirely if you so choose; I doubt this is an issue we shall resolve any time soon.
Editor’s Note: Effective March 1, The Gettysburgian will include the prefix “Opinion” prior to the title of all opinion pieces to help readers more easily differentiate between opinion columns and news reports. Please contact editors@gettysburgian.com with any questions.
March 19, 2018
Thanks for the info Chas!