Gun Control Reversal

Armed and Backpedaling

While it is not uncommon for the Republicans to change their minds and the facts, there are some raised eyebrows over a recent reversal in strategy.  The Republicans have decided to undo their position on gun control realizing that protecting gun rights also applies to those who oppose their policies.  Cloaked behind a sudden about-face on school shootings and CEOs being gunned down, insiders are indicating that the real reason is  that studying the autocratic playback more closely, they have realized that previous paths to autocratic control in other countries have started with taking guns away from their citizens. 

Some earlier thinking about maintaining the personal possession of a gun goes beyond simple self-protection and relates to more a Red Dawn possibility where the citizens have to protect themselves against a foreign invasion or even their own government turning on them.

 Now the rationale for allowing citizens to bear arms from the Constitution and defending it by lobbyist money appears hollow as the Republicans realize that defending that right can be easily turned on them.

As noted in a New York Daily News opinion article by Bernard Starr, “Indeed, history tells us that it’s far-right and other authoritarian regimes, not liberal democratic ones which are most likely to take guns away from ordinary citizens. . . . If Donald Trump is re-elected, and authoritarian rule becomes the norm, it would be wise for gun owners to start looking for places to hide their weapons.”

The National Gun Association, sensing a future market constriction but also marketing opportunity, is now pushing back against any new thinking by Republicans on gun control by targeting such groups as the Students for A Democratic Society with discounted assault rifle offers.