Sunday, April 22, 2007

A killer opening   [Mark Steyn]

Courtesty of Scotland On Sunday, here's the umpteenth piece from the overseas press on how, even after the Virginia Tech massacre, the gun lobby's "stranglehold" on politicians is so tight even modest gun-control measures are beyond the realm of possibility. But, even as he deplores the apparently bipartisan obsession with firearms, look at Alex Massie's opening paragraph:

WHEN A former Miss America was confronted by a thief in her Kentucky barn last week, the plucky 82-year-old knew just how to react. Venus Ramey, whose figure adorned Second World War B52 bombers, pulled out her .38 calibre handgun, leaned on her walking frame to steady her aim and coolly shot out the tyres of the startled intruder's getaway vehicle. She then held him at gunpoint, flagged down a motorist to raise the alarm and calmly waited until the sheriff arrived.

The story was celebrated as an example of the unquenchable American frontier spirit and the inalienable constitutional right to defend hearth and home with firearms.

The lingo - "unquenchable American frontier spirit" - is mocking, but, even for a piece about why American can't join the civilized world, it can't quite conceal the admiration for what Miss Ramey (the first redhead Miss America) did to her barnstormer. In Mr Massie's country, the likes of Miss Ramey have to accept being burgled with impunity and that, since the cops decline to investigate such crimes and merely mandate ever more expensive window locks and laser security, it's now easiest just to ring the doorbell and and disable you rather than the alarm system. (Britain has a much higher rate of "hot burglary" - all but unknown in my part of New Hampshire.)

But it goes beyond that. Even a reflexively hostile foreign journalist can recognize in "the plucky 82-year-old" a tribute to the human spirit. Why wouldn't you "celebrate" such a story? Mr Massie talks about "America's schizophrenia towards gun control", but the schizophrenia here is mostly his. 

04/22 08:55 AMShare