How I have come full circle on the gun control debate

When a reasonable person makes a reasonable sounding argument, it is called persuasion. When an unreasonable person makes a reasonable sounding argument, it is called manipulation. I am here today admitting and confessing that I was on the wrong side of this issue based on reasonable sounding arguments by unreasonable people.

This journey has been a deeply painful one for me that had me standing at the site of one of the most horrific school shootings in American history and putting flowers on the grave of one of its youngest victims.

TL to BR: Parkland fatalities Chris Hixon, Nicolas Dworet, Aaron Feis, Gina Montalto, Scott Biegel, Alyssa Alhadeff, Joaquin Oliver, Jamie Guttenberg, Martin Duque Anguiano, Meadow Pollack, Alex Schacter, Peter Wang, Helena Ramsay, Alaina Petty, Carmen Schentrup. Cara Loughran, Luke Hoyer.

Gina Montalto Rest in peace

The reasonable sounding argument

"Nobody needs a weapon like this. This is not a defensive weapon used to repel an assailant''

I have to admit that those on the political left had me persuaded with this argument. They no longer do.

The God-fearing people of Venezuela were celebrating in the streets being freed from the tyranny of Maduro. What were American leftists doing? Protesting in favor of the thug!

The same government that weaponized the 3 letter agencies against American citizens is fomenting obstruction of the prosecution and deportation of career criminals- drug pushers, rapists, gang bangers, and child traffickers. They have openly and unapologetically declared common cause with exactly the kind of evil psychopaths that committed the Parkland murders and hundreds of others.

In their states, their governors have openly declared safe haven for even the worst criminal invaders and threatened federal agents with prosecution. Meanwhile, their feckless attorneys general have created a criminal revolving door resulting in people on subways being stabbed and lit on fire as well as wave upon wave of shootings. Finally, their rhetoric is amping up the violence to the point where our day-to-day existence is in peril.

Recently, this national guard member was murdered at a DC Subway station the very day I was taking the subway and that very station was the stop before mine.

She died simply trying to keep the streets safe for people like us.

Yes. I have made a complete 180 on this issue. In part because of brilliant arguments from a friend named James but mostly because I see with my own eyes that the gun grabbers have declared common cause with the very psychopaths trying to kill us all.

In his powerful book, Why Meadow Died, Andrew Pollack makes the case that his daughter Meadow, and 16 other Parkland victims, are not dead because of an AR-15 but because of the monster holding it and the literally dozens and dozens of warnings that screamed at people who simply looked the other way.

What Nicolas Cruz did on February 14th, 2018 is absolutely horrific but the egregious failures to stop it may be even worse. People were pleading for action to stop the monster who was openly promising to shoot up the school. Loudly! Proudly!

The authorities ignored the threat and blamed the gun. They demonized the gun when the reality may very well be that the gun might just be the only friend we have in this emerging apocalypse.

Thank you, James for making me see.