My
return to Nashville reminded me exactly why responsible gun owners should ditch
the NRA.
 |
| Just exercising their Second Amendment rights |
I couldn’t find a hotel room in Nashville when I visited
for my brother’s wedding. Maybe that was for the best.
I had a longer commute to the clearing in the woods where
the wedding would happen the next day, but at least I kept a safe distance from
the NRA’s second-biggest convention ever happening downtown that
April weekend.
Don’t get me wrong — I grew up in Nashville. And, though
we never had guns around — my granddad says he’d rather have a rattlesnake in
the house — I know plenty of responsible gun owners who kept rifles for
hunting.
I also know many people who carry handguns for
“protection” and as an expression of “individual liberty.”
This group happens
to include the DJ at my brother’s wedding reception. He sported a pistol tucked
into his waistline during his set.
So I pointed it out to my fellow groomsmen. A few
laughed. One explained, “Oh, yeah. He’s always got a gun.”
I should never have asked why. That conversation always
leads down the same, rocky road. But I couldn’t help myself.
“What if the government were to take arms against
American citizens?” someone offered. “We need access to the same equipment so
we can protect ourselves.”
Really, the same equipment? As the old saying goes:
“Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight.” I have a bold theory that bringing a gun to
a tank-fight would prove equally ineffective.
“You don’t have to own a gun, but I’m going
to protect myself and my family,” another said.
I still haven’t met anyone — ever — who’s used a gun to
protect his or her family. I’m sure it happens from time to time, but gun
owners are significantly more likely to kill themselves than an intruder. Suicides account for 6
out of every 10 gun deaths in the United States.
The NRA still claims that guns are used 2.5 million times
per year in “self-defense.” But experts have widely debunked that stat and ridiculed the 2.5 million
claim as a “mythical number.”
Gun rights advocates also use this logic
to defend concealed-carry laws. “Crime will go down if would-be criminals
have to worry about law-abiding citizens with guns!” supporters say. But this
is also a lie.
Take Dade County, Florida, where in five years police records have catalogued only
12 encounters between concealed-carry permit holders and criminals,
compared to 100,000 violent crimes overall.
So how have groups like the NRA persuaded the DJ at the
wedding — not to mention the 78,000 attendees of the NRA convention — that more
guns means more safety?
In fact, while these lobbyists have convinced gun owners
that they’re looking out for “personal liberty,” that’s simply not true. The
NRA represents gun manufacturers, not gun owners.
To keep up the façade, the NRA skews facts on self-defense and leans on its allies in
Congress to gag gun violence research. It’s essentially made ignorance the
basis for garnering support from its members.
If the DJ knew he was far more likely to shoot himself on
the dance floor than stop an unexpected wave of Islamic State terrorists
crashing my brother’s wedding, would he still be packing heat?
The NRA prefers that he simply never find out. By
spreading ignorance to block common-sense gun control measures, the NRA scares
generally well-meaning folks into throwing money at gun makers for “protection”
that never comes.
I think responsible gun owners need to break up with the
NRA. It’s what will make them — and wedding guests everywhere — much
safer.
Joel Kendrick is
OtherWords’ editorial assistant. OtherWords.org
