...although this is not so strange, really. It seems the religious right has joined up with the NRA to wage war against gun control, bringing their hate speech and revisionist history to an organization well acquainted with such.
And there's a particular linguistic shift taking place amongst them that strikes me as interesting, and revolting: the redefinition of the "sporting rifle".
Salon carried this piece by the SPLC, reporting on the NRA's new allies in their valiant effort to maintain the status quo.
Matt Barber, a lawyer for the anti-gay Liberty Counsel, predicts a civil war over gun control. Bryan Fischer, the rabid mouthpiece for the homophobic American Family Association, has banned the use of the words “assault rifles” on his radio show. Even the Family Research Council, which describes itself as a pro-family organization, has targeted President Obama as “blatantly disingenuous when he says he believes in the Second Amendment.”
Each of these individuals and groups has a related file on the SPLC, being hate groups or members of hate groups and all that rot. They also cite
David Barton, an influential evangelical and
infamous revisionist historian, whose book
The Jefferson Lies was withdrawn from publication (by a xian publisher, no less) due to its lack of credible evidential support. And so, it's only natural that the SPLC reports Barton is
up to his usual tricks.
“The NRA rises up in 1871 with three Union officers who had fought to end slavery, fought for civil rights, fought for civil rights for blacks,” Barton said. “And part of the reason is, they want blacks to defend themselves individually, use their individual right of self-defense against the Klan.” (Actually, most historians argue the birth of the NRA had nothing at all to do with civil rights but rather to establish training standards for emerging rifle technology.)
The version of history with 100% less Barton-esque lies, incidentally, is
well supported, including via a citation
from the NRA itself. He makes the debunk so
easy.
And while Matt Barber brags about his gun collection and warns of a civil war (I've heard that before) and David Barton makes up history about the NRA's origin to end slavery on behalf of "civil rights for blacks," Bryan Fischer ties the emphasis on mental health in the gun control debate to a conspiracy to disarm xians.
“If they decide that mental health are reasons to deny people their constitutional rights, it’s a short step from there to identifying us, Christians, genuine followers of Jesus Christ who believe the Bible and what it teaches … as mentally ill,” Fischer claimed. And if that happens, Fischer fantasizes, “Guns are going to be taken away from us.”
And yet this fellow has no issue in lining up behind the NRA to support it -- even though part of the
NRA's response to Sandy Hook was to suggest a database of the mentally ill.
In his Friday morning news conference, National Rifle Association chief executive Wayne LaPierre floated the idea of a national registry of the mentally ill as one way to stem gun violence.
“How can we possibly even guess how many, given our nation’s refusal to create an active national database of the mentally ill?” he asked.
So I guess it doesn't worry the likes of Bryan Fischer when the NRA floats the idea, only when Obama does. I wonder why. Never mind the fact that many states already have some law on the books in this regard, and problems stem from a lack of uniform and complete data, as the federal gov't can only encourage reporting data via funding; it lacks the authority to compel the states.
I wonder if Republicans in the House will stand in the way of boosting federal funding for this purpose.
Incidentally, the SPLC also mentions that Fischer has banned the term "assault rifles" on his radio show, Focal Point, in favor of "sporting rifles." This is also a term I've seen the NRA using, and I can understand why they're looking to redefine these weapons using a less...evocative term.
The National Rifle Association has decided to withdraw from the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show in Harrisburg.
The decision is based on the ban of "modern sporting rifles" from the Feb. show, according to a press release from the NRA.
Having followed the news on this particular gun show for the last few days, I was not surprised to learn that
it was postponed after boatloads of valiant second amendment supporters jumped ship, in solidarity with the NRA's boycott. Yes, I know, conservatives don't like boycotts unless they're the ones participating, etc. etc.
So. The "sporting rifle." I realize what they want me to imagine is the athlete, displaying their marksmanship in a competition, there are Olympic events for it, even. It must be my personal bias showing; I think of Sandy Hook, or Aurora, and I am appalled.
In conclusion, while the SPLC expressed confusion over a bunch of right-wing xians siding with the NRA in support of guns, what with that whole "Prince of Peace" thing and all...
It might seem odd that those who profess allegiance to the teachings of Jesus Christ would be so vociferous about making sure that Americans have continued, unfettered access to assault rifles. But in the wake of the massacre of schoolchildren in Connecticut, which ignited the most heated debate about gun control in this country in a decade, some of the religious right’s most rabid voices are joining the fight.
...I had already seen, to my great amusement,
a xian politician take his shot at fitting that square peg in the round hole, and fashion an argument whereby his christian god loves guns and wants us to shoot them.
“Guns are used an average of 3 million times a year according to the Clinton Justice Department,” Assemblyman Tim Donnelly told the Christian talk radio show The Bottom Line on Wednesday. “That’s like 6,900 times a day. That’s the high end of the statistics, other people say it’s only 200 times a day.
“Whatever that number is, they are used to defend human life,” he explained. “They are used to defend our property and our families and our faith and our freedom, and they are absolutely essential to living the way God intended for us to live.”