If I could wave a magic wand and change anything about the good old U.S. of A. tomorrow I wouldn’t fix the economy or get us out of Iraq and Afghanistan. I wouldn’t wish away the Obama budget or Nancy Pelosi. I wouldn’t even mystically make our borders secure or stop the assault on the sanctity of human life. The one thing I would change is to give everyone in the country a massive dose of critical thinking skills. I would make it the number one priority of things to be taught in schools. I believe if I could fix this problem all the others would fix themselves.
Let me give you an example. On Sunday I was watching Fox News and one of the newsreaders was doing a piece on the drug war on our southern border. Part of this story was a short interview with the liberal New York Congresswoman Nita Lowey. Ms. Lowey hates the fact that you have the right to own a gun. Of course, she never came out and said that. Instead Ms. Lowey was faithfully reciting the administration talking points about the Mexican border drug war which includes the idea that the problem on our southern border is largely due to the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Here is how the logic goes: Drug cartels are coming into the United States and buying “assault” weapons. If we would outlaw the legal sale of these guns to American citizens the problem would disappear! You see, the Democrat logic goes, the reason there’s drug violence on the Mexican border isn’t corruption in Mexico, lack of enforcement of our existing gun laws, or an ability to control our nation’s boundaries. The reason is that you and I have the right to own a weapon that could be used to protect our home and family in a time of national crisis.
Let’s take a minute here and test your critical thinking skills. Ready? Here are some of Ms. Lowey’s statements. I may be paraphrasing them a bit as I was trying to write them down while continuing to watch the interview without the help of my DVR, but I believe I’ve captured them fairly accurately.
Ms. Lowey said that, “Mexican Drug Cartels are operating in 239 cities in the United States.” The idea behind that talking point is to shock and horrify you with the vision of drug lords invading the country so that you’ll be willing to give up your right to own a gun! Stop reading for a minute and think about that statement and make a list of all the things that you might question if you have functional critical thinking skills.
Here are a few of my critical thinking questions. How did these violent drug criminals get into the country? Are they here illegally? Does that make them illegal immigrants? Would their children be eligible for in-state college tuition under the Dream Act if they stay here long enough? If a policeman or border patrol agent shot one of these illegal immigrant, assault weapon owning drug dealers in the backside who would end up in prison?
239 is a very exact number which makes me think that some very exacting police and DEA work has been done to arrive at this number. What are the 239 cities? Wouldn’t these drug cartel guys sort of stand out in Provo, Utah (207th largest city in the US) or in Olathe, Kansas, (206th largest city in the US). Are they only operating in those cities? Do we know who any of these people are? If we know they are here and we know who they are, why don’t we arrest them? Are they working only with other illegal immigrants or are there American citizens involved. Why aren’t they under arrest? I could go on, but I think you get the idea. There have been a number of our laws broken already but if we could just ban these assault weapons all these other laws could somehow be enforced.
Ms. Lowey further stated that these drug kingpins. “…come here and buy weapons to take back across the border. There are 200 gun dealers near the border making a fortune.”
Do the drug dealers come in and fill out lawfully mandated paperwork? How do they get the guns back across the border? Would enforcement of our existing border laws make this harder? Are they using fake IDs? Who are the dealers they are buying the weapons from? If we know these 200 gun dealers are selling weapons illegally to drug dealers, why don’t the police arrest them? Why doesn’t the Obama Administration pull their dealer licenses and impound their inventory while we investigate who they are selling guns to? Don’t gun dealers have to keep records about who they sell to? Are all of these laws being followed?
The philosophy of this administration is grounded in that old Saul Alinsky “Rules for Radicals” philosophy to not let a crisis go wasted. Why let a little drug war go to waste when there’s a chance to limit Second Amendment rights?
Here’s my advice to Ms. Lowey and her gun hating friends, do a little more police work and get a clue! If you want to repeal the Second Amendment have the courage of your convictions and say so. Stop using our nation’s problems to foist your liberal agenda on your fellow citizens. Yes, you won the election but during that election your guy assured us that he wasn’t interested in banning guns Now that he is our President, I expect him to keep his word.
I am putting this challenge up to all my gun hating liberal friends. If you hate guns put a big sign in your yard that reads, “I hate guns and we don’t keep any in this house.” Make it easy for the gun owners and the criminals! Any takers?