By David Codrea
USA – -(Ammoland.com)- “The grisly carnage from mass shootings regularly attracts the nation’s focus as a public safety issue, if only fleetingly,” The New York Times Editorial Board wailed in yet another hand-wringing paean to citizen disarmament. “But the highest death toll from guns by far continues to be the far less noticed wave of suicides — nearly 20,000 a year — by Americans whose easy access to guns presents an irresistible temptation in a critical moment of despair.”
That certainly doesn’t sound like anything “background checks” or a “high capacity magazine” ban would have any impact on. It sounds like they just don’t want anyone to have a gun. That’s pretty much the same position taken by a source cited by The Times as authorities on the matter: The Brady Center.
Yeah, sure, those AstroTurf monopoly of violence freaks like to present themselves as “common sense gun safety advocates,” but that’s just so they can push through incremental assaults on freedom before moving on to their next objective. That’s why they no longer call themselves Handgun Control, Inc., and why they’d just as soon we all forget the words of their founder, Nelson “Pete” Shields, who, back in 1976, told The New Yorker:
We’re going to have to take one step at a time, and the first step is necessarily — given the political realities — going to be very modest. . . . [W]e’ll have to start working again to strengthen that law, and then again to strengthen the next law, and maybe again and again. Right now, though, we’d be satisfied not with half a loaf but with a slice. Our ultimate goal — total control of handguns in the United States — is going to take time. . . . The first problem is to slow down the number of handguns being produced and sold in this country. The second problem is to get handguns registered. The final problem is to make possession of all handguns and all handgun ammunition-except for the military, police, licensed security guards, licensed sporting clubs, and licensed gun collectors-totally illegal.
What the Bradys don’t tell you is, per World Health Organization Statistics, “gun-free” Japan comes in at #17. The “easy access to guns” United States comes in at #50. What they also don’t tell you, and this is curious, seeing as how they’re big proponents of police being the “Only Ones” with guns, is that a Philadelphia Inquirer report from some years back concluded:
“New York City officers kill themselves at a rate of 29 per 100,000 a year. The rate of suicide in the general population is 12 per 100,000 …”
More recent reports on the “epidemic”note:
National police suicide statistics can be murky because few departments report them, but the nonprofit Badge of Life counted 126 officer suicides in 2012. Bob Douglas, founder of the National Police Suicide Foundation, believes the rate is even higher. He estimates that two officers commit suicide for each one killed by a criminal.
You’ll note The New York Times isn’t demanding to disarm cops—yet (give ’em a few years). And they also seem to kind of actually like suicide — as long as no one uses a gun. It appears this is one group that actually would feel better “if they was pushed outta windows.”
In “Offering a Choice to the Terminally Ill,” the Editorial Board appears to be all for assisted lethal doses as a humane way to die with dignity. That is, if it’s given to law-abiding citizens. For some reason, when one is given to a convicted murderer, the Board suddenly gets squeamish and starts worrying about suffering.
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.
He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and also posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.