Demonizing gun owners in Tucson

By Daryl Montgomery and Jack Kemp

Sunday's New York Post had an small -- in all senses of the word -- article concerning a gun show held in Tucson this weekend.

Although the New York Post has largely conservative editorials, many of its staff writers are liberals, such as Coleen Bush who chose the "journalistically objective" headline of "Gun nuts showing off near site of Ariz. slay rampage."

Someone should tell this woman that there are a lot more coyotes, snakes, javelina (wild boars) or drug runners in the general vicinity of Tucson then there are on the Avenue of the Americas near Forty Eighth Street, the headquarters of the Post's parent company, Newscorp. And wanting to protect oneself and one's family doesn't make someone a nut - but such blanket flip accusations against country people might easily qualify one for that descriptive title.

Ms. Bush starts by lamenting:

"TUCSON, Ariz. -- Thousands of weapons enthusiasts, many openly packing heat, crammed into an Arizona gun show chock full of high-powered rifles and semiautomatic pistols yesterday -- a mere 13 miles away from last weekend's rampage."

A mere 13 miles away? Can I presume that because of people's sensitivities, Ms. Bush would object to a mosque being built anywhere less than 13 miles away from Ground Zero in Manhattan? That was a rhetorical question. One also has to ask if Ms. Bush thinks the rattlesnakes will stop biting now that they have read in the paper about the Tucson shootings -- or that people who want to put venison or another game in season on their table will have to fast because of the Tucson shootings.

Then Ms. Bush went into a discussion of a donation box for victims of the shootings, saying it was nearly empty. Apparently Nanny Bush knows exactly how much spare money people have in an era of $100 a barrel oil and $3.50 a gallon and rising gasoline which is, in effect, a de facto tax hike in a recession. Ms. Bush also is presuming these people have not or will not donate to charity either in the privacy of their home writing a check or using PayPal -- or donate money at a church or synagogue.

And since Ms. Bush mentioned Rep. Gabrielle Giffords's life-threatening medical condition in connection with the charity box, perhaps Ms. Bush should have noted that Congress chose to exempt itself from the requirements of the ObamaCare bill, opting to give itself much better medical coverage than many of the attendees of the gun show could afford. Plus, the Congressional healthcare plan is paid for by the taxes of those citizens who both did and did not attend the West Gun Show at the Pima County Fairgrounds.

Ms. Bush also gave the opposing conservative view in her little article, via the gun show's organizer. He stated, "When guns are in the news, it inspires gun owners to get out and defend their Second and First Amendment rights." But Bush offered "hope" to liberals in the form of writing that "New York Rep. Carolyn McCarthy plans to introduce legislation this (coming) week outlawing magazines that carry more than 10 rounds." Given the results of last November's election, one doubts if this bill would ever make it out of US House of Representatives committee.

Ms. Bush noted that Tucson shooting victim Eric Fuller was arrested for threatening language told to a gun-rights supporter at an ABC forum. But she had to balance it with a report that a man in Long Island, NY, was arrested for allegedly making multiple harassing calls to the offices of Rep. Gary Ackerman, a Queens, NY Democrat. While there was no mention of the political leanings of the man who allegedly harassed Rep. Ackerman, if the Long Island man were a Tea Party member, he just might have been the lead story on every American cable station as well as Al Jazeera. We do, however, know from news reports that the man who threatened a gun-rights supporter in Tucson was a liberal.

Anyone who wants to buy a gun is a "nut"?