Teens are dupes for anti-gun politics

There are things we’re not supposed to say. If we mention the unmentionable, even though the First Amendment protects that right, we will be ground down into dust and used as examples for future generations of what not to say, where not to go.

But that’s never stopped me before, so …

The young people who are standing in front of the cameras and condemning our gun-loving society are appropriating the tragedy of their classmates for political goals.

In a way, they’re heroic. They’ve been able to harness the power of all forms of media, social and conventional, to draw attention to their anger and frustration with our nation’s gun laws.

The part of me that admires fighters stands in awe of their effectiveness.

But there is another side to what they are doing, and you will not hear about that from CNN or MSNBC or the New York Times, or NPR, which seem to like it.

Personally, I am repulsed by the people who have steadfastly refused to acknowledge that the right to bear arms is not absolute, and should be limited along the lines delineated by Justice Scalia in Heller. Gun enthusiasts usually ignore that paragraph where the late great justice said we can deny guns to the mentally ill, keep them away from schools, and keep certain types of weapons out of the hands of civilians. To them, like Charlton Heston, the only way to pry a weapon out of their jaundiced digits is on their death beds.

But most Americans are not like that, and do understand that reasonable gun control is necessary to our survival as a nation. Most Americans still weep at the memory of Newtown. Most Americans think gun shows are an oddity whose time has come and passed. Most Americans don’t think you need a militarystyle arsenal to protect yourself. Most Americans cheer for Bambi, not the guy who wants to blow off his little face.

But you would not know that if you listened to those heroic teenagers from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. In their youthful passion, amplified by their heart-wrenching grief at the death of classmates, they have decided not to speak with reason and highlight the dark corners of the problem with focused lasers. They have decided to use blow torches and blast their perceived enemies with righteous hellfire. And some in the media have been extremely happy to help them do it.

Instead of treating the horror of gun violence as a bipartisan, apolitical problem, I have watched as the same seven or eight students, articulate and earnest, have made the same commentaries about how we need to “care about their lives,” and launched veiled threats against the people they blame for the semi-annual bloodbaths.

But let’s be honest, and let’s say what we’re not supposed to: These attacks aren’t aimed at Democrats who’ve taken money from the NRA.

The students haven’t blasted Bernie Sanders for his warm relationships with gun rights groups. And frankly, the fact that people take money from a legal organization that advocates for acts that might end in the unfortunate death of innocents does not make those people evil.

The point is that we are watching as another tragic moment is turned into partisan farce.

No one blamed President Obama and his caucus for the death of 7-year-olds, even though a Democratic majority failed to pass legislation when it had the chance. How is this different?

I know I’ll probably have to lie low for the next few days.

I’ve already received letters from Mike from Bryn Mawr telling me that I need a new photo (nice liberal misogynist males), Terry from Landsdowne (who was outraged that I would praise Pat Toomey for actually doing something that, horror of horrors, makes him look good to liberals) and Monica from Morton (assuring me that Republicans were despicable people). But I’m really tired of having to pretend that this Children’s Crusade is different from all of the other crusades that have a partisan flavor, like the Pink Hat March and the #Metoo moment, and the Black Lives Matter movements, and whatever else comes down the pike.

The youth have a right to speak. They have a right to be heard.

But let’s not pretend that their words don’t come with a partisan tone.

As long as we acknowledge that, we can move forward and really try to solve the problem without pretending that one side is good, the other an abyss of evil.