Immediately following the news that there was an attack in a movie theater in Antioch, Tennessee, CNN’s anchors consistently started the segment by intoning that, “We’ve seen this time and again.” The implication was that shootings in theaters are becoming commonplace and they bemoaned the fact that nothing has been done to prevent such tragedies. The obvious conclusion: CNN’s anchors wanted to see more gun control legislation. Since that hasn’t happened they are blaming every attack on the evil NRA and gun owners. There’s just one problem: the gun used in this particular incident was fake . . .
Not that CNN really cares. Well after it was determined that the pistol was a pellet gun, the “news” organization ran an op-ed calling for more gun control and using this non-shooting as a prime example of the “gun culture gone wrong.”
That the alleged assailant in Nashville, Vincente David Montano, was wielding a pellet gun that only, quite convincingly, looked like a real gun changes the outcome, but not the terror. Some of us may decide going out to the movies isn’t worth it.
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The strength of the gun lobby in America and the fears of some that they will lose rights conferred, they say, by the Second Amendment are only part of the reason such topics are mostly avoided in the business world, including in the business media. Our attachment to guns crosses lines of race, gender and sexual orientation: it is a national disposition. Who wants to mess with that?
According to the author, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a fake gun is no different than a real firearm. She argues that since there is no difference between a fake gun and a real gun, the evil gun lobby is ultimately to blame for this incident and that something must be done to pressure people into accepting more restrictive gun regulations. For their own good.
No, seriously.
America’s economic leaders should apply the boldness and tenacity that fuel national enterprise to the task of shifting the conversation about gun control in this country. They will face opposition at first, but they will be making a necessary investment in our human capital and in our collective prosperity.
The author’s argument is that business owners should impose the most restrictive anti-gun policies they possibly can on the American people in order to make their patrons “feel safe.” The problem is that, as we have seen time and again, gun free zones like the ones she suggests do more to attract mass shootings than to deter them.
This is pretty much what the gun control activists have been reduced to: begging individuals for support in their cause. The American population believes now more than ever that a firearm is a useful tool for self defense, and having a gun in the house means that you are safer. Enacting any sort of gun control in this environment is pretty much political suicide on a national level, and the only way that this can change is if the nation’s opinions start to change as well. Demonizing gun owners, ostracizing them from your favorite places, and making them appear to be untermensch is the place to start, but there’s very little support for such measures outside the liberal bastions of Seattle and California.
The line of thinking for gun control activists hasn’t changed one bit. “I’m more intelligent and more important than these gun owning yokels, and I think they need to have their guns taken away for their own good.” That’s the way it has always been, but now with the opinion of the American people no longer on their side it is becoming crystal clear. The elite few want to disarm the unwashed masses, and the masses are telling them to cram it. The only way they can make progress is if the rest of the elites — the business owners — fall in line and force gun control down the throats of the American people.
That’s what CNN is pleading for in this editorial, and they couldn’t care less that the facts don’t match their narrative. Because they’re better than you. They don’t need facts.
If he had drawn a gun on a piece of paper, stuck it in his pocket and then hacked a school yard full of kids to death with an ax we would be getting more calls for gun control from the usual idiots.
Is there any wonder Americans are turning away from gun control?
“I have no idea what the question was, I know Gun Control and Mass immigration is the answer”-Leftism.
For every hour of CNN a person watches their IQ drops a point.
Correction.. It’s every minute.
It doesn’t matter that the gun is a fake. So is CNN.
She’s partly correct on a fake being named different than real. Point a fake at a person and it’s still assault, just like with a real one.
These rights are natural, and the Second Amendment was meant to keep it that way. And the editorial comes off sounding like they’re saying “that’s not what the Second Amendment says” under their breath.
Sad narrative for what was a cutting edge news organization.
“We’ve seen this time and again” applies to the claptrap spewed from the talking empty heads of CNN.
Here is the problem. We currently have gun rights supporters that effectively say the same thing. Its their business if they ban guns i just won’t go there. Or concealed means just that.
This is the wrong view and feeds the anti-gun retoric. My rights are my rights if your business doesn’t approve of those rights, close. Or be sued till you close for civil rights violations.
A business choice to be in business doesn’t give the property the right to force me to choose between daily errands and giving up my rights to self-defense and free association.
If we want to go down that road, its a fairly simple fix. I think Arizona pased something similar, that public places that disarm people are required to have armed guards, metal detectors, and safes. Hold them responsible for the attacks that their policies encourage.
If you read the comments the article was revised and likely dropped before the facts were ascertained.
I love the part where they say that the media tries to distance themselves from the gun issue. It seems like they can’t shut up about this kind of thing when it happens, and it’s odd that it happened while theater shootings were seeing extended coverage due to the Aurora verdict and sentencing coming in. It’s kind of like someone played a commercial on the TV for crazy people.
Overall I think part of the reason that momentum has been slow is that people are at some level jaded to the debate. That’s a good thing and a bad thing as it means they look at this kind of stuff with a leery eye.
Gotta love CNN having a form letter with fill in the blanks. Kinda like “madlibs for gun control” or simply pseudo journalism lacking in integrity to push an agenda.
I’m not an elitist, but I am a business owner. I do not and I will not ban guns in my business. I carry my firearm every day to work, and I allow any law abiding citizen to do the same in my business. The ones who don’t abide by the law enter at their own risk however!
Another gun story? Quick, everybody into the CLOWN CAR!
So….we need more gun control so people like the guy in Tennessee, who couldn’t get a gun, can’t get a gun. Once that is in place, we need the owners of businesses, like this movie theater that has banned firearms, to ban firearms. Slow news day I suppose.
But but but…it LOOKED real! Kinda’ like cnn “looking” real…
The fix would be for movie theaters to install medal detectors, bag inspections and pat downs by armed security guards. All this is “common sense,” and “reasonable.”
Such safety measures will do more then any gun laws. After all it’s “for the children.”
Given, this won’t happen. We’ll hear how expensive it will be, how it will take time, the difficulty and intrusion. (Not that anyone thinks of this with more gun control laws) last, it will be pointed out the number of movie theaters, the number of movies shown and what a low percentage of shootings occurs at movies. Instead, more feel good gun control laws will be proposed. Not that such laws will stop shootings.
If theaters had a residency check requirement, none of these crazed hobos could have committed their attacks /sarc
*rhetorical question*
Has anyone every asked and found an honest answer as to why the gun-rights/self-defense rights lobby is ‘so’ strong?
The gun-grabbers’ rote answer is because they are well funded, but that is rather meaningless without the actual answer. The gun-rights/self defense rights lobby is so powerful because a massive chunk of the population believes in it. Obviously, the truth is an unacceptable answer to the gun-control crowd, so they have to blame small groups of rich people and the NRA.
The reasons the anti-gun groups keep repeating the phase powerful gun lobby is to set the narrative of a “David and Goliath” battle in which of course the NRA is “Goliath”. Who doesn’t root for the underdog?
The NRA is not as powerful as the media makes them out to be. In fact they don’t even break the top 100 for lobbying in the United States.
Took my daughter to the latest Disney animation two days after this incident. As always I went armed and per the laws in my state the no guns allowed BS does not apply. I am not going to stop go
continued (hate this laptop sometimes)
I am not going to stop going to the theater because of the occasional nut with a gun incident. Of course I do carry, and in my state the “no guns” sign just means means keep your gun concealed and there is exactly nothing they can do about it. I will stop going if the price keeps getting higher, $30 for tickets popcorn and drinks especially when the Blu-ray is $25 and available less than three months later.
Wife and I spent $48 for 2 3d movie tickets and large popcorn and drink. I was packing and felt like i was being robbed. Their stance on guns isn’t scaring me off its the prices! Any more I’d rather stay home and rent a redbox movie. I have a huge tv and more popcorn than I can eat.
So, a crazy guy had to make do with a fake gun and a fake bomb? The real news story here is existing gun laws apparently actually worked!
CNN may want to question why they feel terror when they see a firearm? What drives such a behavioral response?
Fear is most always a human reaction to a lack of understanding, therefore the best survival choice is to retreat, run for the corner, lash-out at what it is in an effort to expose what generates the cognitive confusion.
The fear of firearms therefore is mere confusion.
According to the author, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a fake gun is no different than a real firearm.
So I am supposed to take an author seriously who cannot figure out the difference between a fake gun and a real one.
Let me guess, another ( gasp) Bolshevik Jew?
CNN = Pravda.
What really is crazy are people who are now afraid to go to theaters because of the deluge of ” shooting sprees”. I keep telling them that they have a better chance of getting killed driving to the theater versus any incident in the theater.
I would think we should be more concerned with real cars and trucks than fake guns.
“They will face opposition at first, but they will be making a necessary investment in our human capital and in our collective prosperity.”
Meanwhile in 1944,
“They Jews will fight when you try to put them in the rail cars…”
Different actors, same plot.
I got it now. The terror from a fake gun is real unless it’s an 8-year-old pointing a fake gun at someone then it’s not real terror. To be liberal is to be omniscient.
“Some of us may decide going out to the movies isn’t worth it.”
She is right about that but not for the reason she thinks.
“Ruth Ben-Ghiat is Professor of History and Italian Studies [at NYU]. A specialist in 20th century European history, with Italy a particular focus, she writes on war, including the relationship of war and cinema; empires; and fascist regimes. She is a regular contributor on these subjects to the Huffington Post and CNN.com. ”
And has become more photogenic by changing her hair color from brunette to blonde: http://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/ruth-ben-ghiat/ – “Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a cultural historian of modern Italy and Europe and a scholar of modern Italian Studies.” – which makes her an authority on crime and uh.. anything else where she gets quoted in the media.
Sadly, job opportunities for modern Italian studies scholars IS rather limited. Academic advancement by shaking a money tree for NYU’s endowments seems remote too.
Dr. Ruth appears intent on a career in infotainment like Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, and Judge Judy. Given her limited options, makes perfect sense.
Gun control?!? No thank you, I will continue to carry for my own personal self defense in places that do and do not allow concealed carry because in the end my personal protection is my personal responsibilty, period.
” Demonizing gun owners, ostracizing them from your favorite places, and making them appear to be untermensch is the place to start.”
Straight out of the Alinksy communist rabble-rousing playbook.
The recent theater shooting in Lafayette, Louisiana, and the trial of Aurora, Colorado, theater shooter James Holmes are still fresh on the public mind.
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