The “Othering” of Gun Owners
“Othering” is defined as “treating people from another group as essentially different from and generally inferior to the group you belong to.” This is not a new tactic. It has been used successfully to shame smokers during the 90’s and 2000’s. First they were ostracized to the “smoking sections”, then banned from confined spaces such as planes and buses, and finally businesses and restaurants banned all smoking in their buildings. When faced with facts that gun violence is not an epidemic, anti-gun groups and politicians can and have resulted to this tactic. In 2008, rural Americans were labeled “bitter” and accused of “clinging to god and
guns”. In 2016, another subset of voters were called a “basket of deplorables” and more recently the City of San Francisco labeled the NRA a Domestic Terrorist Organization, and congressional members have even referred to NRA members as ‘mass murderers’ and ‘white supremacists’. In the wake of the El Paso and Dayton shootings, Walmart, Kroger, Walgreens and others have banned open carry and Walmart has even decided to stop selling certain types of ammunition. Ironically, these companies still sell cigarettes.
A new “Assault Weapons” ban or magazine restriction will have little to no impact on crime or mass shootings. This was already proven in the 1994 assault weapons ban. Today, some legislatures believe the 1994 law had no effect because it didn’t go far enough, and any new bill should include more restrictions, buybacks or other measures to remove AR-15s and AK-47s from legal gun owners. Then when the next mass shooting happens with a semi-auto pistol or shotgun, the anti-gun groups will claim the new law didn’t go far enough and we need to ban/buyback all semi-auto firearms. Then when the next Santa Fe, Tx, School shooting happens with a revolver and pump-action shotgun we will once again face another round of bans and buybacks.
On Sept. 25, the Democrat-led U.S. House Judiciary Committee held a 3 ½ hour hearing called “Protecting Americas from Assault Weapons” . Towards the end of the hearing, Dr. RaShall Brackney, Chief of the Charlottesville Police Department in Virginia, responded to a question about banning hunting rifles from Rep. Greg Steube (RFla). Her response was “I believe any weapon that can be used to hunt individuals should be banned.” Law enforcement officers have an extremely difficult job, but in
the event of home invasion when we are faced with multiple armed attackers or in the middle of a mass shooting, WE are the ones that call 911. The responding officers are going to bring the best options for defense with them including high capacity semi-auto pistols, rifles(AR-15s) and shotguns. Shouldn’t we, the citizens, who have to face the attackers until the Police arrive, have the same options to protect ourselves and our family that law enforcement would bring?
