-Caveat Lector- >Don't Blame Liberals for Gun Control >By Richard Poe >FrontPageMagazine.com | January 8, 2001 >URL: http://www.frontpagemag.com/editors_note/en01-08-01.htm > >ANTI-GUN CRUSADERS seem worried about the advent of a Republican >administration. Heaven knows why. Republicans, in recent years, have >managed to do nearly as much damage to the Second Amendment as Democrats. > >In 1969, journalist William Safire asked Richard Nixon what he thought >about gun control. "Guns are an abomination," Nixon replied. According to >Safire, Nixon went on to confess that, "Free from fear of gun owners' >retaliation at the polls, he favored making handguns illegal and requiring >licenses for hunting rifles." > >It was President George Bush, Sr. who banned the import of "assault >weapons" in 1989, and promoted the view that Americans should only be >allowed to own weapons suitable for "sporting purposes." > >It was Governor Ronald Reagan of California who signed the Mulford Act in >1967, "prohibiting the carrying of firearms on one's person or in a >vehicle, in any public place or on any public street." The law was aimed >at stopping the Black Panthers, but affected all gun owners. > >Twenty-four years later, Reagan was still pushing gun control. "I support >the Brady Bill," he said in a March 28, 1991 speech, "and I urge the >Congress to enact it without further delay." > >One of the most aggressive gun control advocates today is Republican mayor >Rudolph Giuliani of New York City, whose administration sued 26 gun >manufacturers in June 2000, and whose police commissioner, Howard Safir, >proposed a nationwide plan for gun licensing, complete with yearly >"safety" inspections. > >Another Republican, New York State Governor George Pataki, on August 10, >2000, signed into law what The New York Times called "the nation's >strictest gun controls," a radical program mandating trigger locks, >background checks at gun shows and "ballistic fingerprinting" of guns sold >in the state. It also raised the legal age to buy a handgun to 21 and >banned "assault weapons," the sale or possession of which would now be >punishable by seven years in prison. > >Gun control crusaders argue that the Republicans are simply yielding to >grassroots pressure, to gain political advantage. But polls show little >evidence of such pressure > >A Gallup/CNN/USA Today survey taken in June 1999 - only two months after >the Littleton massacre - showed that the number of Americans who favored >stricter gun laws had declined by 20 percent since 1990. > >Public support for gun control has dwindled even further since then. An >Associated Press poll released on the one-year anniversary of the >Littleton shootings shows that Americans favor strict enforcement of >existing laws over new gun laws - the exact position of the National Rifle >Association (NRA) - by 42 to 33 percent. > >That same month, a survey by the Pew Research Center showed that only 6 >percent of Americans believed that tougher gun laws would prevent future >school shootings. > >Meanwhile, a Tarrance Group poll has shown that only 5 percent of >Americans want gunmakers and gun dealers held responsible for misuse of >firearms. > >Clearly, the pressure for gun control is not coming from the grassroots. >It comes from those layers of society that the left calls the "ruling >classes" - academics, Hollywood stars, Washington insiders and >multibillion-dollar media conglomerates. > >The latter are particularly influential in pushing anti-gun propaganda. A >study by the Media Research Center released in January 2000 showed that >television news stories calling for stricter gun laws outnumbered those >opposing such laws by a ratio of 10 to 1. > >The blame for this media bias is traditionally assigned to "liberal >journalists." And, indeed, most journalists do hold left-of-center views. >A 1996 survey of working journalists by the Roper Center and the Freedom >Forum showed that 89 percent had voted for Bill Clinton in 1992. Only 4 >percent identified themselves as Republicans and only 2 percent as >conservatives. > >Yet, their "liberal" views probably have less impact on the media's >anti-gun bias than most people assume. Rank-and-file reporters have little >power to influence the political spin even of their own stories. > >When I worked at the New York Post in the mid-1980s, I found the newsroom >filled with liberals. They grumbled constantly about the paper's >conservative slant. But they went along with it, because it was company >policy. > >Liberal news organizations are no different. Political bias comes from the >top. Rank-and-file reporters simply do what they are told. > >Those of us who cherish our Second Amendment rights are keeping our >fingers crossed about George W. Bush. But the monolithic commitment >America's "ruling classes" have shown toward gun control makes one wonder >whether even a president is free to buck the current. >--- >Richard Poe is editor of FrontPageMagazine.com and SlapHillary.com. He is >the author of Black Spark, White Fire and other books. For more >information about Poe and his work, visit RichardPoe.com. E-mail him here. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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