Ronald Reagan.
The NRA.
The GOP.
What do these three entities have in common? Given the near-sainthood status posthumously afforded Reagan as possessing the core values of a true American leader, and the NRA’s strident pitch for guns to be more visible in society, coupled with the GOP’s clear attitude that only it knows anything about how to run a country, surprisingly little.
Let’s take a moment and touch upon only two of today’s hot-button topics: gun control and immigration. In the mind of many, were Reagan still on the scene, surely he would act decisively and in step with the GOP, whose members talk a lot about decisive action against illegal immigration! Surely he, as a GOP member, and as someone of whom the NRA was exceptionally fond, would champion the rights of gun owners!
The facts, however, tell a much different story. Reagan was the first US President to grant amnesty-with the near full support of the GOP (!) to several million illegals in 1986. That’s right. It wasn’t some left-wing radical liberal activist President, it was Reagan and the GOP.
On the gun front, even I was surprised to find that in 1983, Reagan, as Governor of California, signed into law the Mulford Act which made it illegal for citizens to carry loaded firearms. Even more surprising? The NRA fully supported it. This came at a time when police protection was not something that minorities could count on, and one of the first groups to protest this law was, in fact, the Black Panthers, who feared the law would remove their ability to defend themselves from the authorities (government). It is thought by some, that the law was aimed specifically at that group, but it effected all gun owners.
Reagan also supported the assault weapons ban of 1994. But to even put forth the idea now, Obama is vilified by Fox News, the GOP and the NRA.
We hear gun advocates claim they will “start shooting people” if Obama moves forward with any gun control action. We hear that guns are essential to safety. We hear that the NRA wants armed teachers……
But to me……
We have a culture problem, not a gun problem. It is impossible to turn on a TV at prime time and not witness depictions of gun use/abuse. I personally find graphic depictions of murder to be far more deserving of the label “obscene” than the appearance of a naked human body. Remember when Janet Jackson’s partially covered nipple appeared on TV for a few seconds and the moral outrage that followed? I’d much rather see that outrage directed at depictions of guns being used against humans. Reservoir Dogs, with its long lurid scenes of a man writhing in a pool of his own blood, and a cop tortured, having his ear sliced off, threatened with being set aflame after being doused with gasoline, and then shot three times at point-blank range complete with blood spatters, would get an NC-17 in my world, but a loving, respectfully portrayed act of cunnilingus would not. No human has ever lost their life from a little bit of well-considered and conscientiously practiced sexual attention….in fact we all crave it. It’s built right in to our DNA.
Food for thought…..