I’m not quite sure how I ran across The Breda Fallacy last week, but I’m glad I did. I followed the link over to her podcast, Gun Nuts: The Next Generation and enjoyed the show she co-hosts with Caleb, from the blog Call me Ahab.
Their November 25th podcast included a discussion about “lightbulb” moments. In the reminder on her blog of that evening’s show, she said:
Caleb and I will be talking about those “ah-ha” or “lightbulb” moments you get as you learn how to shoot or when you finally decide to carry. I like to call them gunny epiphanies – that single point in time will forever exist in your memory. You will refer to it again and again throughout your life and remember the sensation of when everything perfectly aligned in your brain – it will be your moment of before and after.
I thought it was an interesting question and gave it some thought. My light bulb moment wasn’t about learning to shoot or deciding to carry. It was a moment that opened my eyes to reality, not only in regards to the Second Amendment but also concerning the news media.
It’s no secret that I’m a southerner. As is the norm for the majority of southerners, I was raised around guns, taught gun safety and how to shoot at a young age. Guns in our home and being legally carried was the norm. When I turned 21, I applied for and received my concealed weapons permit. I had never considered that in some parts of the country, my family would be the exception in this regard. In my early twenties, I had never even entertained the idea that not only would we be the exception, in many cities across America, we wouldn’t be allowed to carry a gun. And, with that bit of personal history, it brings me to how my light bulb moment came about.
On December 7, 1993, the Long Island Rail Road train left Penn Station around 5:15 pm taking commuters home. As it entered Nassau County Colin Ferguson stood up, produced a 9mm handgun and shot every passenger he came across as he slowly walked down the train’s aisle. As he paused to reload, three passengers tackled him and put an end to his murderous spree. Unfortunately, Ferguson was able to murder six innocent people and injure nineteen others.
In 1993, I was in my early 20s and as I mentioned, I hadn’t given much thought beyond my own reality to gun laws across the country. I had yet to realize that some folks believe that no citizen should own a gun, much less be able to legally carry one. Looking back, I’m not quite sure what I thought exactly. I guess I just assumed that since the Constitution gave us all the right to keep and bare arms, all states were similar to Alabama in that if you were a law-abiding citizen you could not only buy a handgun, but get a permit to carry it.
One Sunday evening I was at my Mother’s house. After dinner, there was news coverage of the shooting rampage by this animal Ferguson on the TV. Of course, one of the interviews included someone making the demand for tighter gun laws. Clearly ignorant of the facts other than what had just been insinuated in the news cast, I said something about maybe New York needed to tighten up their gun carry laws. Really brilliant, wasn’t I lol? My step-father quickly and as is his nature, gently explained the many errors in that opinion. In doing so, he pulled back the curtain and for the first time in my young life, I realized that the press is not always showing the entire picture and they, too, can and often do have an agenda. By choosing which voices will be heard, they can steer the uneducated on the topic they are covering the way they want them to go. I also realized that not all states are equal when it comes to the Second Amendment.
Step-father opened my eyes with his first few facts. He told me that New York has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation and that most law-abiding citizens cannot get a carry permit. He said, “If people on that train had been able to legally carry a concealed weapon, it’s unlikely this guy would have had free reign to kill and injure so many people. Instead of being sitting ducks until he was forced to pause to reload, just one law-abiding citizen legally carrying a gun could have ended his killing spree immediately and saved countless lives.”
I hadn’t known by the news coverage that New York has such strict gun laws that the average citizen couldn’t get a permit to carry. He also pointed out something the news coverage hadn’t: that animal Ferguson was not legally carrying a gun. The law abiding people on the train were unarmed and only the criminal who intended to murder as many as he could was carrying a gun. With the strict gun laws New York already had on the books, more gun laws wouldn’t prevent criminals from carrying guns. The laws only prevent the law-abiding people from carrying a gun and being able to protect themselves.
This one conversation turned on the light bulb for sure. For starters, I viewed the media differently and realized that regardless of what they reported, it was my responsibility to always look into what they covered further before making a judgment or having an opinion – especially when politics are concerned. I never took for granted the Second Amendment or my home state of Alabama’s view of it again. I was immediately thankful that my state realized that unarming their citizens just made them unable to defend themselves against those who don’t obey laws to begin with. More gun laws only restrict the law-abiding citizens and embolden the criminals who know the average citizen will be unarmed thanks to the legislature. It was a light bulb moment for sure…
