NRA dodges a bullet with ruling on open-carry from Ninth Circuit
The National Rifle Association received an unlikely gift last week when the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled in favor of opencarry of firearms. News of the decision gives the trade group masquerading as a civil liberties organization a chance to reload its campaign against American civility.
To be clear, the court is not the villain; that Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain interprets the right to “bear arms” in the Second Amendment to mean as “on your person and for purpose of self-defense” is not unreasonable; the U.S. Supreme Court will get the final word upon appeal at a later date.
The bad guy is the NRA itself.
Originally formed to promote “rifle shooting on a scientific basis,” the NRA went through a devolution in recent decades, morphing into a chimera of social, political and industrial interests and aimed at increasing firearms sales through undermining American sensibilities. The NRA’s connections to an accused Russian spy and her country’s influence in our 2016 presidential election were like armor-piercing, green-tipped rounds, aimed at destroying our political process from the inside out. While the exact damage to America’s internal organs from that wound is pending autopsy, the NRA’s long history of subverting American values and culture is well established through much smaller-caliber bullets fired at state-level lawmaking.
Take the killing of Markeis McGlockton in Florida this month. The NRA believes America’s onerous legal system, wherein individuals risk severe repercussions if they are found to use firearms negligently, is a deterrent to gun ownership. Its solution? Create a legal bulletproof vest, shielding the shooter from any burden of justification.
Florida’s Stand Your Ground law gives an individual the legal right to not retreat from a situation in which he or she believes to be threatened with harm or property theft; and allows for the use of lethal force in such instances. Florida was the first to pass this law in 2005. As of today, 21 other states have enacted similar laws. In all cases, the NRA authored, funded and promoted the legislation and the legislators who pushed it forward. Of those 22 states, 15 implemented the NRA’s version of the law, which gives the shooter full immunity from arrest and a legal presumption the use of lethal force was lawful. The same states allow for a Stand Your Ground claim even if the shooter provokes and creates the deadly situation.
McGlockton had stepped inside a convenience store with his 5-year-old son while his girlfriend and two children waited in the car. She had illegally parked in a handicap spot, an infraction that store patron Michael Drejka felt he should confront (and had confronted with others before in that same parking lot). Upon seeing Drejka arguing with his girlfriend, McGlockton pushed the self-appointed parking cop to the ground. Drejka pulled a gun from his waistband and, without warning, shot McGlockton dead.
Drejka claimed he was Standing His Ground and was not arrested. Nor will charges be filed.
The absurdity of Stand Your Ground becomes even more apparent when considering a scenario in which the girlfriend is also carrying a weapon. Feeling threatened (and perhaps suspecting Drejka has a gun) she could justifiably have shot Drejka dead first, and she certainly could have after he shot her boyfriend. Even more of a conundrum, the store owner could have seen the conflict occurring and, fearing for his own safety or that of his property, could have justifiably shot both Drejka and the boyfriend.
Are these the scenarios the NRA wants for America?
In the NRA’s distorted view of law, order and justice, every American is openly carrying and concealing multiple firearms at all times; simultaneously fighting and deterring crime — what a boon for gun sales! And what a disaster for American society.
Not a single one of those states has seen a decrease in crime since passing Stand Your Ground laws. Conversely, justifiable homicides have increased in all states with Stand Your Ground defense — and disproportionately toward the killing of young black men.
Where Stand Your Ground really gives off a tainted smell is in how it undermines all aspects of law enforcement. In both this latest tragedy and in the killing of Trayvon Martin in 2012, Stand Your Ground deputizes the gun wielder and encourages vigilantism. Judge, jury and executioner am I under Stand Your Ground.
American courts give the accused a presumption of innocence and honor the notion that the punishment fits the crime. Parking in a handicap spot is not punishable by death.
The weeks ahead will see how successful the NRA was at dodging these recent bullets, but the question for Americans remains: Will we unite to stand our ground against an association that poses such a lethal threat to civility? Or will we continue to allow the NRA to divide us through provoking a false conflict around the Second Amendment?