NYT: ‘Insane Behavior’ in ‘American Sniper’ a Good Case for Gun Control

On February 5 The New York Times ran a column on American Sniper pointing to Chris Kyle’s “insane behavior” at home and the way that behavior makes a good case for gun control.

The NYT arrived at this conclusion by contrasting the strong points of the movie with aspects of Kyle’s life that the left can’t stand.

For example, the NYT reports, “This film is certainly powerful, and it celebrates our Iraq veterans. But it also eulogizes the killing of Iraq insurgents, including children.”

This is the same way the left reported on our Vietnam War vets, praising their service on the one hand, only to erase that praise by labeling them baby killers on the other. In neither circumstance–the Iraq War or the Vietnam War–did they bother to mention that the enemy armed children to attack our troops in hopes that Americans’ renowned benevolence would prevent anyone from killing the armed children, thus allowing the children to slaughter US troops.

The NYT was also dismayed that American Sniper did not cast Kyle as a part of “an invasion that didn’t have to happen in the first place.”

So, the claim isAmerican Sniper celebrates our veterans as they kill children “in an invasion that didn’t have to happen in the first place.” That’s about all the praise the NYT could muster.

But there’s more. The NYT cites the way “Kyle [enjoyed] walking around the house, twirling a pistol” and the way he pointed a gun at the TV after his four tours in Iraq and pretended “to shoot down bad guys.”

And then there’s the scene in the movie where Kyle walks into the kitchen, points a revolver toward his wife and asks her to “drop them drawers.” The NYT describes this as “insane behavior… by virtually any standard,” and concludes American Sniper really conveys a “good-gun, bad-gun message.”

They stick with the “bad-gun message” to report on the Open Carry Tarrant County group whose antics have all but damned the open carry movement in Texas, for now. Breitbart News previously reported that former Texas land commissioner Jerry Patterson–an open carry proponent–talked of how these and other “nut jobs” have shot the Texas open carry movement in the foot.

Question–what does this have to do with American Sniper? Answer–absolutely nothing. But citing the antics of Open Carry Tarrant County at the end of the article allowed the NYT to leave readers with the impression that all pro-Second Amendment advocates are a little scary, Chris Kyle included. In turn, that allowed the NYT to diminish the most important message of all–Kyle’s expert use of a gun for the safety and protection of our country, his family, and his fellow troops.

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins   Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.