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Subtle Lawfare

You have to hand it to them, the don’t miss a trick. This is one of those subtle examples of how the media and leftist advocacy groups work in concert.

Each morning I get an email from Google alerts for news stories with the words “mass shooting”. It is an instructive way to see what is going on with these shootings around the country and how invariably they are barely covered nationally. Often I will see as many or more stories about the anniversary of a high profile mass shooting (iow any mass shooting with a White shooter) as I do about mass shootings that happened yesterday. A lot of mass shootings don’t even get mentioned at all. 
The other day I received one of these emails and what was interesting was that it didn’t talk much about current mass shootings but instead there were a series of basically the same story having to do with the mass shooting in Indianapolis at a FedEx facility earlier this year where a bunch of people were killed, including some local Sikhs. 

The story ran in national outlets USA Today and the Washington Post, as well as local outlets like WDRB (Louisville), WTHR (Indy) and WVPE (Elkhart, IN). Those are just the outlets I saw in this email. When I did a Google search for “FedEx shooting victims $2.1 million”, it came back with 115,000 results. Here are the first on the list:

The story ran all over the place, locally here in Indiana, in national outlets and in news outlets like the News Virginian, the Minneapolis Star-Herald, Tucson.com and the Billings Gazette. Why are people in Tucson, AZ and Billings, MT interested in a local lawsuit in Indiana? They almost certainly aren’t but news outlets carried the story all over the country. Why?
Because the mass media, from the big national outlets to local news, are unapologetic mouthpieces for the Leftist agenda. They work hand-in-glove with left wing politicians and advocacy groups and everything they publish is pushing an agenda. 
The details of the case aren’t important right now, but notice the theme here. The victims families are suing Indianapolis because the shooter, who was clearly loony tunes, was not given a “red flag” hearing, which might have then prevented him from buying the rifles he used in the shooting. He had previously had a shotgun seized by police and according to Marion county prosecutor had they not been successful in the hearing, the shotgun would have been returned to the guy who ended up shooting up his former workplace. 
The news stories being blasted to every outlet in the country have a very specific purpose. The audience is not the average reader or viewer who doesn’t give a shit about the lawsuit, and why would they. No, the audience are the local politicians who see a city being sued for $2.1 million and are thinking “crap, we can’t afford that”. I suspect that in many city halls around the country in states with “red flag” laws, a meeting was scheduled shortly after the stories ran with police and prosecutors and the message was clear: use the red flag law more frequently, better to use it when it isn’t necessary than to not use it and get sued. 
If someone has their firearms taken unjustly, that individual will have to fight a costly legal battle to get them back but if someone doesn’t have their firearms seized and ends up shooting someone, the local government is on notice that they will get sued. It is just a matter of basic math. 
Want to bet that at least one anti-2A group is helping to bankroll the lawsuit against Indianapolis? 
The fight to disarm Americans is not just being waged via outright bans and confiscation in Congress. It is happening every day in little actions like this one that add up over time. I have made this comparison before to the anti-abortion movement. While Roe v Wade/Casey v Planned Parenthood is still the law, anti-abortion activists have succeeded in driving a lot of clinics out of business and made abortion very rare in many states by small, incremental actions that add up over time. 
The anti-gun lobby is doing the same thing. Even if they are not having much success at the national level, they are endlessly pushing in small ways to restrict your rights. It is very telling that a state like Indiana, a deep red state with very pro-2A laws in general, still has a red flag law on the books. 
Don’t get sleepy on the question of the 2nd Amendment. Just because nothing big is happening on the national stage doesn’t mean they are giving up. Every day there are people who have as their sole purpose in life to disarm you. Our vigilance must match their obsession or we will wake up one day like Australia. 

9 Comments

  1. Anonymous

    I remember sitting around with the fellas at the range back circa 1996 when the strict new firearm laws were introduced and semi-autos were effectively banned for the average person, and compulsory registration of all firearms was introduced. At the time we were all royally pissed off – but probably 10% of us were outraged and swore that they'd never register their arms – never !

    The rest of us looked at each other – and thought but didn't say out loud – "poor sod is losing it". Turned out that the blokes who refused were almost all ex-servicemen.

    Fast forward around 25 years later and I cannot attend that same range anymore because I refuse to receive an experimental gene treatment, show my "papiere bitte" and wear a face nappy at all times other than when eating.

    I'm now in the 10% of weirdos who have "lost it".

    Funny how they relentlessly tighten the screws. Tiny increases, but they are constant. We are not even allowed to use a rifle larger than 8mm or military ball ammo. The ammo restriction has been in place forever, but the 8mm max calibre is new – 338 lap etc were becoming popular and I suspect the authorities were concerned about a deranged person.

    Stupid thing is, if you want to hunt with your 8mm & above, it must be sighted in before the hunt for obvious reasons. The easiest hunting access in my state (NSW) is via a "R-licence" for hunting in state forests. However you are specifically prevented from sighting in your rifle or target shooting in state forests. So you'd better have access to private land to sight your rifle in ! It is a vicious circle, and sooooooo easy to ban all recreational hunting from NSW state forests. We also need a "genuine reason" to own firearms. Hunting or target shooting are the most popular with pest control an option for land owners/primary producers.

    So if I cannot make my required number of attendances to the range due to lack of vax-passport/face nappy, and some politically-connected NIMBY (Not In My BackYard) manages to get state forest hunting banned . . . .

    Nah, that would NEVER happen.

  2. Anonymous

    Clarification – the 8mm max calibre restriction is for Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (SSAA) ranges. This organisation sadly – CALLS ITSELF – the Australian "peak" shooting body, and manages most of the public ranges in Australia.

  3. John Wilder

    The Mrs. saw this when she was part of the News Media complex. She got to pick the stories that ran, so she picked ones she agreed with. Her impact was minor – she simply refused to read NBA scores, for instance. What is ignored is often as important as what is shown.

  4. E M Johnson

    I use duck for non commerce related search. Political/philosophical information i don't want "massaged" as it were. But for me Google is usually way more efficient at finding things to buy or services I need.

  5. Anonymous

    liberals live in a bubble of their own making, everyone talks about the same shit to each other for so long they think it is the right and only way to solve it. and it all peace and kumba type of shit.
    life not like that.

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