February 13, 2006
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION FOR THE REST OF US:
Arms-bearing Americans are rarely wrong (Stephen Robinson, 14/02/2006, Daily Telegraph)
The sort of person on this side of the Atlantic who deplores America's "gun culture" will almost certainly despise Mr Cheney's politics, and wish to see him carted off by a Texas sheriff and charged with reckless endangerment. But as one who, during seven years of living in America, occasionally went duck shooting - or huntin', as I learnt to call it - I confess that I loudly cheer the Vice-President's speedy exculpation.In Britain, the man with the gun is always at fault. Our culture and our law enforcement agencies deplore gun ownership; rural police forces persecute owners, treating them as freaks.
Viscount Whitelaw, a blameless and splendid man, never recovered from a simple error on the moor when his shotgun accidentally discharged, winging a beater and spraying an old friend in the bottom.
It could have happened to anyone, but poor old Willie was forced to give up the sport he loved, such was the tabloids' glee at his misfortune.
Our world-beating Olympic shooters must practise abroad because of the post-Dunblane handgun ban - a ban ignored by gangsters on the streets of our larger cities, whose criminal antics have driven an exponential rise in gun crime since the legislation was passed.
This could never happen in America, where gun ownership is not just constitutionally protected, but is part of a great levelling exercise. In many of the southern states, the first day of the hunting season is a school holiday, so that fathers can take their sons out with rifle, shotgun, and paramilitary fatigues.
Hunting is an affirmation of the frontier spirit of the nation. More, it is a celebration of democratic participation - not, as is the case over here, an exclusive club for social climbers in plus fours.
Pretty much every road sign in Texas, Arkansas and Virginia is peppered with holes, testimony to the relentless zeal of southern men honing their marksmanship skills in the close season.
When I moved to America, I acquired my first and only gun - a pump-action 12-bore, which I kept under the sofa in my Washington home and which I would bring out to appal namby-pamby visitors from England. [...]
In America, you do all the gruesome stuff involving feathers and innards yourself, and you would never even think of handing over the menial work to a gamekeeper or beater.
It certainly seems that a goodly bit of the psychotic reaction to this incident by the Left and the media must just be a function of their never having shot guns themselves and trying to comprehend a thoroughly alien culture. Posted by Orrin Judd at February 13, 2006 11:18 PM
It is quite true that this was not a big deal by U.S. standards.
It is also true that this was a dumb-a** goof-up.
We do not serve the RKBA by excusing the inexcusable.
Posted by: Lou Gots at February 13, 2006 11:47 PM
Just as the Democrats have a faction on the left that is irate because the party refuses to say what they believe in -- because the more rational party members know to do that would be political suicide -- part of the wrath by the media over this shooting inicdent goes back to the party's forced repression of their support for un control since the 2000 election. The anti-gun efforts of the 1980s and 90s received the wholehearted support of the big media outlets, but Democrats have downplayed the issue since Gore ran for office, because it polled so badly with the public, and that left the TV and press elites with no one to really champion their beliefs on the issue.
Aside from their natrual dislike of the administration in general and the VP in particular, this was seen as a way to bring back the "guns are evil' story line that they had played out in the battles over assault weapons, Blue State cities filing suits against gunmakers, and other Second Amendment cases during the Bush 41 and Clinton years. While Cheney should be both contrite and embarassed about the incident, the media's desire to make this an indictment of the hunting culture in general does them more harm than it does the vice-president.
Posted by: John at February 14, 2006 1:03 AM
This thing is a joke.
I'm an American. My dad worked for the Defense Dept. for years both as a civilian and as a member of the services. He made me shoot guns and I hated it. Just because guns are part of the culture doesn't make it good. I grew up with them around I still am not comfortable around them. How 'bout them apples you British wannabe neocon?
Posted by: nick at February 14, 2006 3:35 AMNick,
This is a free country. No law requires you to like guns or be comfortable around them.
It's your choice whether you wish to have the capacity to protect yourself, your home and your family.
Posted by: Steve at February 14, 2006 4:15 AMNothing like an unarmed populace. Makes it so
much easier for the thugs.
That's fun nick, I don't feel comfortable around people like you. You make me nervous.
Posted by: Buck at February 14, 2006 7:47 AMI like guns. I own a veritable arsenal of rifles, pistols, and shotguns. If being comfortable around guns means disregarding safe gun-handling doctrine, then I am not comfortable around them.
Shooters have a duty of care to themselves, to their neignbors and to the gun culture to ritualistically adhere to safety.
Posted by: Lou Gots at February 14, 2006 9:28 AM