Editorial

Having it both ways

David A. Lombardo

The amazing thing about liberalism is it's always a one way street. What's good for the goose is never good for the gander.

Without question, the White House is doing everything in its power to convince Americans that anything remotely related to a gun is bad. The messiah and his four horsemen of the apocalypse-Bloomberg, Biden, Feinstein and Schumer-have launched an all-out campaign to discredit anyone and anything that remotely appears to be pro-second-amendment. There is a widespread disinformation campaign, millions of dollars being spent to buy elections for anti-gun candidates and a constant beating of the drums on the news and talk shows.

The anti-gun mass-hysteria mentality they have created now has schools suspending little children for chewing breakfast pastries into the shape of guns or for wearing T-shirts that simply carry the NRA logo. Even toy guns have been added to the list of taboos resulting in-and this is too ridiculous to be made up-toy gun buyback programs.

According to a June 10^th Washington Times article written by Jessica Chasmar, Hayward, California's Strobridge Elementary School held a Safety Day which included a toy gun buyback program. Kids who brought in a toy gun were given a book-presumably not one you'd find on the NRA website-and a raffle ticket for a bicycle.

School Principal Charles Hill, who came up with the idea for Strobridge Elementary Safety Day, received his inspiration from a school photographer who was upset about the number of police shootings of young people in Oakland. Hill is quoted as saying, "Toy guns teach kids to not take real guns seriously. Playing with toy guns, saying 'I'm going to shoot you,' desensitizes them so as they get older it's easier for them to use a real gun." Really?

Given all the hysteria about gun-shaped pastry, let alone owning a toy gun, it's no surprise that President Obama is getting roundly ridiculed for the photo of him brandishing a pretty lethal-looking water gun during daughter Sasha's birthday party at Camp David recently. Far be it from me to take him to task for playing with his kids on their birthday, and certainly not for a squirt gun, but am I the only one that sees a problem here?

Once again we see this president's duplicity: it's always okay for him to do as he wishes but not anyone else. However, the whole situation begs the question whether or not this sort of thing really leads to violence later on.

The Hollywood liberals scream bloody murder at the suggestion that the ever-increasingly violent and realistic video games might potentially desensitize children, leading to future violence. Let's face it: violent video games are essentially advertising, and advertising works. Ask Outsell Inc., a Burlingame, California, industry research company.

Outsell has calculated that over $412 billion a year is spent on advertising in the U.S. alone. That's more than the gross domestic product of many countries. If advertising didn't work, would corporate America be dropping that kind of cash on it?

So Mr. President, how about you actually take a stand on the issue even if it ticks off your buddies in Hollywood? Make up your mind, tune up your teleprompters, stand square in front of the American public and tell it like it is. Does owning a gun or anything that even remotely resembles a reference to a gun, including violent video games, cause violent crime or not?

Do we do away with it all-guns, NRA T-shirts, toy guns and Hollywood's beloved violent video games-or don't we? You can't have it both ways....oh, wait, of course you can! Having it both ways is the foundation of liberalism. 

 Mayors Against Illegal Guns says

terrorist was "Victim of Gun Violence"

As long as we're on the subject of idiocy it would be appropriate to mention that Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG), New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg's anti-gun group, recently called a terrorist a "victim of gun violence." As part of a gun control rally this week in Concord, Mass., a MAIG-sponsored "No More Names" tour bus arrived and anti-gun organizers read the names of those killed with guns since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school last year.  Chief among the questionable list of gun violence victims was Boston Marathon terror-bombing mastermind, Tamerlan Tsarnaev. When Tsarnaev's name was read, the crowd booed, and one of the attending pro-gun counter-protesters-who significantly outnumbered the antis-shouted, "He's a terrorist," a point obviously lost, at the time, on the MAIG "No More Names" group. Tsarnaev was killed by police during a shootout following the April 15 "Patriot Day" bombing.  During the car chase and apprehension, Tsarnaev threw grenades and other explosives at police and reportedly had explosive devices on his person when he died, but according to MAIG, Tsarnaev is a victim. Turns out the list also included suicides, home invaders shot by home owners during the course of their crimes, murderers who turned their guns on themselves and police officer shootings of criminals-not exactly those you'd typically consider victims. [Source: NRA/ILA]

 Illinois mayor drops out of

Bloomberg's anti-gun coalition

And speaking of MAIG, an independent Illinois mayor is leaving New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's anti-gun coalition because he said the group strayed from its original mission and became too focused on pushing for an assault-weapons ban. "I've dropped out of a group called Mayors Against Illegal Guns," Rockford, Illinois, mayor Larry Morrissey said at a Rockford Tea Party town hall Saturday as the crowd burst into applause. "The reason why I joined the group in the first place is because I took the name for what it said: against illegal guns. The challenge that we see day in and day out in the city of Rockford is not dealing primarily with assault weapons or machine guns (automatic weapons). It's dealing with a typical handgun. All of those typical weapons are usually in the hands of people who are prohibited from having them," Morrissey said. "As the original mission swayed, that's when I decided that it was no longer in line with my beliefs...so that's why I dropped out," Morrissey explained. "The focus should not be against law-abiding citizens. We should be focusing our enforcement on folks who have no right to carry a gun, concealed or otherwise." [Source: NRA/ILA] 

Bloomberg's use of NYC computer server

called into question

The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is calling on New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman to investigate whether any laws have been violated by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg by apparently operating a website for Mayors Against Illegal Guns that is reportedly registered to a New York City government server and apparently administered by city employees. "On top of everything else that has been revealed in recent days about Bloomberg's MAIG group padding lists of so-called 'gun victims' with the names of criminals and a terrorist bombing suspect, this new discovery is an outrage that demands a criminal investigation," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. "He's spending millions of his own dollars on anti-gun politicking around the country, but apparently to offset his expenses, he's letting taxpayers-many of whom oppose his restrictive gun policies-help foot the bill." CBS News picked up the story from various other sources and began reporting about it over the weekend.