Gersh Kuntzman: “The NRA is to blame for police shootings by encouraging citizens to defend themselves with guns”

By
Sara Tipton
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79

Gersh Kuntzman

By now we all know Gersh Kuntzman, the anti-gun journalist whose “run in” with an AR-15 “bruised him, body and spirit.” Kuntzman’s latest anti-gun salvo concerns the recent police shootings of two armed men. Who’s to blame? It’s the evil NRA.

I mean, what other explanation is there when a cop, who works for the government, shoots [allegedly] innocent civilians? It’s the NRA! Oh, and the gun nuts, too.

I blame the gun nuts.

Gun lovers and their mouthpieces at the National Rifle Association have done more to damage to police-community relations than poor cop training, racism, crime and fear could ever do.

And it’s all due to the NRA’s twisted, sick perversion of the Second Amendment from a cherished right to keep and bear arms as part of a well-regulated national defense into a call to “stand your ground” in all circumstances.

I’m actually surprised to see anti-gunners still attacking the NRA. The NRA supported (if not crafted) recent anti-gun legislation: the no-fly list and terrorist watchlist prohibition. You’d think they’d be warming up to the NRA as most of us pro-gunners are cooling off towards the “pro gun” association. [/sarc]

Anyway, here’s another excercpt from the nypost.com article where Mr. Kuntzman further argues that civilians are to blame for the Louisiana and Minnesota shootings.

The victims in two recent shootings — Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge and Philando Castile near Minneapolis — lawfully carried weapons.

They were the “good guys” with guns that the NRA is always talking about.

But in the recent police shooting of Dylan Noble in Fresno or of Dillon Taylor in Utah two years ago, the victim was unarmed.

And that’s the problem: In a country where law-abiding citizens are encouraged to protect themselves with guns, police increasingly assume every person they stop is indeed armed.

Newsflash: Mr. Sterling was a convicted felon who did not carry a firearm lawfully.

There is no other interpretation of the Second Amendment than the one set forth by Founders, you know, the guys who actually penned it.  “…shall not be infringed,” is pretty clear.  That includes protection against the government, a.k.a., a bad cop if need be. Lives aren’t less valuable simply because they don’t have a badge on their chest.

Those two men had every right to defend themselves, but that’s still the problem. Neither appeared to be, in fact, defending themselves. One was already subdued and the other was reaching for his license. I’m not even entirely sure which videos Kuntzman watched to draw his conclusions, but maybe his shoulder is still sore and it’s affecting his brain; he did give himself PTSD after all . . .

The irony, of course, is that there’s no way for cops to distinguish who are the “good guys” with guns, who are the “bad guys” with guns, and who are the rest of us who don’t want to be in any crossfire. There’s no evidence that Sterling or Castile, or many of the other legal gun owners shot and killed by police were “bad” guys.

In fact, Castile’s girlfriend, Lavish Reynolds, said her boyfriend was the ultimate law-abiding citizen.

“He works for St. Paul public schools,” she said. “He’s never been in jail, anything. He’s not a gang member.”

So why did he feel he needed a gun? Perhaps he simply heeded the message of the nation’s most powerful lobbying group: law-abiding citizens should be armed.

But the results are almost always tragic: Any time a cop answers a 911 call, he now has to assume everyone in his immediate view — the “good” guy, the “bad” guy and even the innocent bystanders — has a gun.

So the incident inevitably escalates.

And, suddenly, the NRA’s “good guy with a gun” is the one who ends up dead.

The results of being armed aren’t “almost always” tragic. There are somewhere between 50k and to 1m successful defensive gun uses per year.  But you know what is almost always tragic? How some people believe that a country where only the police are armed would be safer than one where the citizenry can defend themselves with guns — despite the lessons of history, both past and present.

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79 COMMENTS

        • I think this guy’s writing is starting to give me PTSD. “the words disorient me as they fly in front of my face……:

      • No there are treatments for herpes. as for little gersh here, well you know the saying, “you can’t fix stupid.”

        • Sure you can. It’s just illegal and immoral to do so, except under certain circumstances which I suspect he won’t oblige anyone by providing.

    • Yep, his seemingly limitless energy is an unexpected new treat in the national gun dialogue 😀

    • “There’s no evidence that Sterling or Castile, or many of the other legal gun owners shot and killed by police were “bad” guys.”

      Considering it was public knowledge almost immediately after the shooting that Sterling had been convicted of multiple felonies in his past and was a convicted sex offender, I have to conclude that Kuntzman’s assertion to the contrary is at best willful ignorance or, more likely, intentional misinformation and lies to further his political agenda. It also likely passed editorial review.

  2. Today on things we totally expected, Gersh Kuntzman gets everything exactly wrong.

  4. By his reasoning a woman wearing a mini skirt and halter top is just asking to be raped.

    Kuntzman. He decided to live up to his name.

    • That’s just crazy. If a man rapes a woman, she’s not to blame.

      Cosmopolitan and Style magazines are to blame. Duh!
      And that’s the problem: In a country where [women] are encouraged to [dress provocatively in miniskirts], [men] increasingly assume every [woman] they [meet] is indeed [horny].

      It’s eerie how well that fits his quote.

      • Especially true if the men in question happen to be illiterate Muslim “refugees.”

    • In the early 70’s my wife wore those mini skirts and halter tops and it clouded my mind. And 41 years later my mind is still hazy. She gave up wearing mini’s but she sure can cook.

  5. I called it in the other thread. Now the narrative will be carry causes death by cop.

  6. And we are supposed to defend ourselves with…….rocks? Like what is inside Kuntz’ head!

  7. FLAME DELETED

    I might as well listen to the local homeless guy rant about, well anything, because their opinions carry about the same weight.

    FLAME DELETED

    • Hey, a homeless person will tend to have seen some harsh reality. Probably a lot. Comparing them evenly to the guy who doesn’t know what sulfur smells like and that it doesn’t come from contemporary ammo is unfair to the homeless.

  8. Well, he got something right. The NRA is a “mouthpiece” for gun owners not the “gun lobby.” Other than that this guy seems to be trying to gain clicks by saying wild things, all to common it seems.

    • This Kuntzman guy, as usual, gets everything wrong about the topic, however, the NRA is quickly becoming to gun owners what Donald Trump is to Republicans.

  9. “There’s no evidence that Sterling or Castile, or many of the other legal gun owners shot and killed by police were “bad” guys.”
    Uh….you mean other than the felony conviction and the pedophilia for Sterling? Gersh has bigger problems than we thought if he puts convicted sex offenders in the “good guys” category.

    • Of course he does…WE are the ‘bad guys’ while pedophiles, rapists, murderers and general thugs are the ‘good guys.’

      It’s all by design.

      Look at who people like him worship as royalty: HRC and BHO, for example.

    • According to court documents, Sterling’s sex offender status comes from having consensual sex with a 14-year-old when he was 20. Though I do personally find the age gap inappropriate, I don’t think it warrants labeling someone as a sex offender for a life, and it certainly isn’t “pedophilia” in any meaningful sense of the word.

      “Gersh has bigger problems than we thought if he puts convicted sex offenders in the “good guys” category.”

      If you’re under the impression that the sex offender registry is some infallible list that’s full of nothing but seedy child-rapists and perverse villains, you’d be wrong.:
      http://www.takepart.com/feature/2015/04/17/errors-sexual-offender-registries

      Basically, sex offender registries are notoriously riddled with errors and often include people who’ve done things that most (non-fascist) people understand don’t warrant a lifetime of stigma – having consensual sex on a beach, urinating in public, 18-year-olds dating 15-year-olds, etc.

  10. I might buy that argument if the police weren’t shooting people carrying toys, or wallets, or cell phones, or nothing. It might be more credible if police in highly gun-controlled areas, from NYC to California to Mexico, weren’t also shooting people unnecessarily.

    • I might even consider his argument valid if the majority of “legal” gun carriers, both CCW and open carry, were not Old fat white men while most of the shootings are of young(ish) black men.

  11. The NRA is to blame for me losing my hair, my failed 1st marriage, the dismal economy and Miley Cyrus.

  12. It sure seems more of this has been happening since January 20, 2009. Just sayin’.

  13. — the “good” guy, the “bad” guy and even the innocent bystanders — has a gun.

    So the incident inevitably escalates.

    How is that inevitable? I go to the range and it’s a damned certainty EVERYBODY there is armed, yet there’s no escalation. I don’t hear a lot about game wardens doing this kind of thing either.

  14. What is wrong with this guy? Is it to much to ask for journalists to actually report facts , than just spew rhetoric and opinions thinly veiled as “news”?

  15. I am happy this guy exists. He is like a silly parody of how illogical and delusional the anti-gun mentality can be.

    It’s almost as if the NRA created this guy as a PR experiment.

    • Unfortunately, there are probably 25,000 NY’ers that will OBSCENE COMMENTS DELETED…..

  16. I usually blame whoever actually did whatever we’re talking about, but if we need a big picture I think that blame belongs to the people that have demonized firearms and therefore the assumption that anyone with a gun is bad because guns are bad.

  18. Of course it has nothing to do with the fact that police academies these days teach prospective officers that there are three types of people they will encounter on the job: “friendlies” (other cops), “tangos” (criminals) and “potential hostiles” (everyone else)… yeah it has NOTHING to do with that.

    And yes, here in Colorado that is what they are now teaching prospective police. My friend’s husband (who’s also a vet) just went through the process last year (he’s now a Sheriff’s Deputy) and was absolutely disgusted. They’re training these kids like they’re in the military but without the discipline that the military instills because the instructors are a bunch of wannabe DIs who got rejected from the service but still just had to have a job with a gun.

  20. I am completely baffled by people that are so steeped in their political ideology that they’ve lost all touch with logical, rational, and independent thought.

    This guy must live in a liberal erected bubble. Arizona is a Constitutional carry state. Police here expect everyone to be carrying, and you know, it works. I have nothing but the highest praise for police in this state. Every encounter I have had with Police in Arizona has been friendly even when they know that I carry. I have an NRA Life Member sticker on my Jeep, along with stickers from SIG, Ruger, and a bunch of other vendors and pro-gun groups. If you contrast that with Oregon, there is a huge difference. Police there are usually trigger happy and aggressive. Perhaps they need a dose of Constitutional carry.

  21. I sometimes think Kuntzman is trolling us all. There’s no way a person can be this stupid and still form coherent sentences.

    • You’re making the mistake of taking this article at its face value.
      Remember he works for the NY Post…the newspaper they created to make the NY Times look sane and reasonable. The Post is the paper that calls Wayne LaPierre “Jihad Wayne”, refers to the NRA as a terrorist organization, and has claimed the NRA supports ISIS by respecting people’s rights.
      Hitler wrote that one should tell huge, ridiculous lies, because no one will believe they could possibly be lies. That’s what the Post is doing: it’s making up colossal lies in order to distort people’s perception of the NRA.
      Of course it’s failing miserably, because the NRA has a higher approval rating than: Obama, Congress, republicans, democrats, and the media (including the NY Post). But hey, somebody has to make birdcage liners.

    • Perhaps random words and sounds fall out of his mouth and he has really talented editors who whittle it down to the coherent ‘gems’…

  22. “In a country where law-abiding citizens are encouraged to protect themselves with guns, police increasingly assume every person they stop is indeed armed.”

    News flash,Kuntzman. This is not new. Police have had to assume everyone they stop is armed for at least the past century. It’s common sense, which is something you seem to have a deficit of.

  23. I wore or carried shield for 31 years…. please pass this on to on to Mr. Kuntzman, “You are an idiot.”

  24. How bout y’all quit reporting on this dumb bastard and giving him the attention and exposure he wants, only helping his cause by drawing eyes to it

    • Mold grows in closed walls.

      The constant replying to the anti gun nonsense had cause even lefty anti gun outlets to start admitting they doubt understand the subject. They haven’t dune that before. In a decade of constant pressure from now they may start actually doing research.

      The point is that constantly calling these guys out is making progress. Even my anti gun friends are more careful about preaching after having the holes in their understanding exposed.

  25. Gersh Kuntzman is full of bologna. My grandfather was a police officer in the 1960s in a city of more than 2 million people. Their protocol for approaching a car after pulling it over:
    (a) One cop sits in the car and watches the occupants of the vehicle they pulled over.
    (b) The other cop approaches the driver’s door with a revolver in hand, pointed at the driver, and hidden beneath a clip board.
    (c) After the second cop is at the driver’s side door (with revolver still pointed at the driver), the other cop makes his/her way up to the passenger side of the car.

    This was the middle 1960s LONG before the NRA was allegedly involved in any proliferation of any firearms, and WAYYYYYY before concealed carry licensing was a thing. Even then, cops were jumpy.

  26. What’s struck me most is that the guy is a journalist, he’s even paid to write that junk.
    He’s not just a random blogger trying to fulfill the infinite monkey theorem.
    (Like the guy who said self defense infringes the 6th amendment rights… of the bad guy).

  27. Oh boy… the gun grabber money must be good for a “journalist” to forget any professionalism at this point… He can’t definitely be that stupid, so it really demonstrates his true color and personal agenda against the NRA, against gun owners, against gun rights.

    But for the sake of argument, let’s assume we will live in his fantasy utopian dreamland and that guns are banned. Now, only criminals will have guns. And what will it exactly change for police officers? Instead to assume every people is armed, they will just assume that every people is a criminal… therefore also armed.

    How would it change anything? Except that law abiding citizen will be even more easily killed and be victims… So long story short, he’s just supporting the victimization of the US population. Sounds about right from a gun grabber!

  28. Gersh is like the gift that keeps giving. I look forward to a future of him beclowning the anti gun cause, now that it’s his thing.

  30. Anyway, talking about Gersh… I have some “The Smell of Sulfur and Destruction” AR-15 T-Shirts that are coming out soon 🙂

    Let me know if you think you could be interested…

  31. “gersh” the sound of a blast of watery stool being expelled from a colon due to terror caused by rifle recoil of about the same speed and energy as a nuzzle from an affectionate boston terrier.

  34. No no no, Kuntman. The NRA is responsible for global warming! And ISIS! And let’s not forget your poor, battered shoulder! And your PTSD! And the fact that you have chromosome damage and high estrogen!

    There was a time when George W. Bush got blamed for everything. Man, those were the days.

  36. Hey, at least the NRA is our mouthpiece now, instead of some sinister puppeteering cabal.

  37. “But the results are almost always tragic…”

    I can’t stop laughing!!!! This dude so full of shit it’s incomprehensible!!!!! There isn’t even a word for it!!!!!

    • No. He’s like a black hole of dignity, sucking in and destroying all credibility in his vicinity. I want him to be famous as an anti gun person.

  39. Not the NRA, GOA, or any other organization.

    The problem stems from liberalism giving certain groups excuses for their bad behavior. Telling Blacks it’s all because of slavery, and other nonsense since no person living today was a slave or slave owner. No person alive today could have done anything about slavery any more than they could have stopped the Titanic from striking an iceberg. We didn’t even exist. It’s liberalism which has dumbed down the educational system. Liberalism which has allowed and excused lawlessness. Hillary and, before her, Bill Clinton doing things wrong and nobody doing anything about it. It’s liberals promising things like free medical, phones, mortgages, and such in order to harvest votes.

    The worst offender has been Obama, who has attacked White people and sided with the lawless. He stirs the pot every time we have an incident long before there has been an investigation by sticking his nose in and blaming cops, Whites, gun owners, etc.

  40. Isn’t this moron’s 15 seconds of fame done yet? He has nothing to add to the conversation in a meaningful way.

  42. “The victims in two recent shootings — Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge and Philando Castile near Minneapolis — lawfully carried weapons.”

    Ummm NO. Alton DID NOT LEGALLY CARRY. He was ILLEGALLY carrying. His criminal past dictated that he could not LEGALLY CARRY.

    “He pleaded guilty to illegally carrying a weapon and possession of marijuana in 2009.”

    Kuntzman needs to resign. He would know this if he were a TRUE journalist and not some anti-gun hack wannabe/pretend journalist.

    So Kunt, if you want to quote me, quote it ALL you hack!
    30 seconds on goggle and you would have known that. DUH!

    So, the rest of your article is now called into question and I honestly just don’t give a damn to fact check your ignorance.

  43. This Gersh Kuntzman seems like an mentally defective strawman liberal idiot straight out of a John Ringo novel.

  44. If you ever wondered what a “second amendment remedy” looks like, look no further than what happened in Dallas last week. Thanks, NRA.

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