Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Guns & Presidential Protest   [Jonah Goldberg]

I've gotten a few prodding e-mails from liberals insisting that NR — or someone therein (herein? there at?) — denounce the epidemic of gun-toting at presidential protests events. Let me take the squishy middle-of-the-road position. I don't think bringing guns to such protests is a great idea. All in all I think it's a bad look, politically speaking, though not without some merit. Reminding the government that the citizenry is armed ain't necessarily a bad idea.

Nonetheless, the simple fact is there's no epidemic and attempts by liberals to make this into a bigger deal than it is betray not only the usual anti-gun bias, but a bit of desperation as well. As far as I can tell, it has happened twice. Last week in New Hampshire, a gentleman had a gun strapped to his thigh. And yesterday a dozen gun-rights activists carried some weapons at an Arizona event. It was all perfectly legal and the Secret Service was hardly worked up about it.

I believe in gun rights, but I also think sporting guns at what are supposed to be peaceful, democratic protests sends the wrong message. But from what I've seen so far, I can't get super worked up over it, either.

08/18 11:26 AMShare