Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton just indicted the "Second Amendment" for the tragic death of a Memphis police officer. After making a well spoken statement praising MPD, offering prayers to the families and condolences, he "dared" anyone to talk to him about the "Second Amendment". He added:
"Nobody has a second amendment right to load up and kill a police officer," Wharton added. "The officers have rules about when they can fire. But the people who took this officer's life, they don't have any shoot, no shoot rules."
Who in the gun rights arena, which is overwhelmingly supportive of law enforcement, has ever made such an obscenely ludicrous suggestion?
Mayor Wharton has a long history of being misinformed about gun owners and gun rights. He's long been a member of NYC Mayor Bloomberg's anti-gun mayors group which has committed documented felonies to manufacture evidence to sue the gun industry. Although I've come to expect such bigoted statements from Mayor Wharton, I don't appreciate his insulting suggestion that the millions of responsible gun owners in our country are somehow responsible for the actions of the individual that shot this officer. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the officer Lang's family and also to the other officer wounded. This is especially tragic so close to Christmas.
I understand that this is an emotional time and this angers all responsible residents of this community. However, once again, Mayor Wharton has indicted a civil right for the actions of someone not likely to have owned a gun legally. Even in the perfect laboratory for a gun free society, the island nation of England, gun crime went up massively after gun ownership was outlawed there. Like any black market item, demand went up along with price and violence. How would Mayors Bloomberg, Wharton and their gun grabbing group expect such policies to reduce violence in our country with it's porous borders? The fact is, the areas with the most freedom for citizens to own and carry guns have the lowest violent crime rates. But that fact doesn't make misinformed gun phobic types "feel" safer, despite being true.
God bless our community and country,
Pat McGarrity
Director - Shelby County TFA
-- Lao-tzu, The Tao Te Ching (China, 6th century BC).