“It simply doesn’t make any sense,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, which advocates for stricter gun laws. “There is no reason why gun dealers should be deemed as essential as police officers or first responders or hospital workers — people who are risking everything every day to save lives.”
That Ivory Tower must be an awfully nice place to shelter during a plague. I notice John conspicuously left off fast food workers and gas station attendants, who are also deemed essential, while making his plea that gun stores, who supply first responders, should not be deemed essential.
An interesting omission to say the least. Pointedly trying to contrast the work of healthcare professionals and first responders as the noble, selfless, and dangerous tasks that they are with the sheer greed that courses through the blood of the firearms industry. Nothing else there. Only greed… evil greed. And badness…
God forbid one stretch your neurons far enough to realize that the local gun store might be the best spot to restock on ammo, get spare parts, transfer in replacement firearms, get additional resources for maintenance, or that they have federally mandated operations they must maintain as an FFL and all should be available to those essential first responders, and the population at large.
The need for self-protection doesn’t vanish during a crisis.
It magnifies. Tensions are higher, tempers are shorter, and the normal social interactive behaviors and responses (including police response) are currently on hiatus. We just rolled into a new month, rent is due, bills are due, incomes are down and the relief isn’t here yet. Sure, a lot of companies have put in free deferment of payments (for now) but not all have. Stuff is going to get called in that people don’t have money for and that is going to cause problems. A company, especially a tech giant like Verizon or AT&T might reasonably be able to keep cell service and the like on with a greatly reduced or even no incoming payments for awhile. They will also likely be among the first to have access to the business loans pool to keep their payroll and infrastructure rolling.
A small independently owned housing property does not have that flexibility. Hundreds of other businesses and individuals won’t have the flexibility. There is no money flowing for many right now and we are starting to get to the point where it is really going to pinch. It’s during these tighter and stressed times where risks are higher and the ability to protect yourself becomes greater, especially for those essential workers who may become the target of someones ire.
People don’t act rationally when angry and afraid, look at the increase in crimes against Asian Americans. This thing may have kicked off big in Wuhan China but that certainly doesn’t make it every Asians fault, it doesn’t make it the residents of Wuhan’s fault. Virus doesn’t care folks, doesn’t care at all. But that won’t stop an idiot vandal or assailant and it won’t matter how many times local Law Enforcement says beating up the family who owns the Hibachi joint is aggravated assault and a hate crime. All it takes is one idiot. One desperate and/or angry idiot who wants to lay blame.
Mr. Feinblatt and other gun control advocates slammed the guidance as “irresponsible” and “deeply unfair.”
Mr. Feinblatt urged governors across the country to ignore the federal guidance and sent a letter to DHS demanding it reverse the decision. – Washington Times
No, Mr. Feinblatt, they should not ignore it and neither should you. You should recognize the real fear that exists, you should acknowledge that healthcare workers, Asian Americans, and even just about anyone considered an essential worker are at heightened risk for a number of factors right now.
Hospitals are already locations of incredible stress and that has been magnified by this event. It is more than reasonable to assume they are likely locations for someone to get angry. The targets of that anger will be the workers who aren’t “doing anything/enough” in the mind of the illogical enraged individual who is becoming the problem. This doesn’t need to happen enmass, it likely won’t, one or two events widely covered by the media (who in a lot of ways aren’t helping) could drastically change the tension of the nation.
Also at risk are those Asian Americans who are irrationally blamed for the virus, just as Sikh and Muslims with no affiliation were irrationally blamed for the actions of Al-Qaeda, ISIS, or Al-Shabaab. Their risk is real. Their lives are in danger from a frightened lunatic fringe.
And all the essential workers, down to the McDonald’s drive-thru attendant just happy to still be making some money. They are at greater risk because they’re making money and others aren’t. They have resources that others are scarce on.
You, Mr. Feinblatt would deny all these people the protection they have a natural human right to exercise. To be ready and able to protect their lives if they encounter an individual or group who has succumbed to anger or gone predatory. You would deny them this because you fundamentally misunderstand what the Second Amendment protects. It protects their lives when government can’t, won’t, and has no obligation to do so.
