Reblogged:The Gun Issue Could Be a Winner for Republicans

[Michael J. Hurd Ph.D.]

Nearly three-quarters of Americans support the rights of gun makers and retailers when it comes to victims of crimes and their desire to file a lawsuit.

According to the results of a poll released Monday by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), 72 percent of those surveyed do not think victims of crimes involving firearms should be able to sue gun manufacturers or stores because of what happened to them.

Why is it even a question? How could 28 percent of Americans actually think it’s valid for people to sue gun manufacturers for deaths of people due to guns? (Sadly, I suspect the percentage is much higher than 28 percent, given the victim culture we are becoming).

It all boils down to this: Are killers responsible for the deaths of people they murder? Or are weapons manufacturers?

To assign even some responsibility to weapons and ammunition manufacturers for the deaths of people at the hands of murderers is to take away some of the blame from those who commit the murder. And don’t try to argue, “If gun companies didn’t make guns, there would be no means of killing people with guns.” Really? Who actually thinks guns would go away even if the government completely outlawed them? Obviously, the government would need guns, and someone would have to make them. Are advocates of gun control so willfully ignorant as to assume that criminals would not go underground and secure all kinds of weapons on the black market in such a climate?

Criminals will always have guns regardless of the law. The Second Amendment exists to ensure that the innocent get to have guns too, if they choose.

By the way, under the logic of suing gun manufacturers, you should be able to sue anyone who uses anything else for a weapon. Knife manufacturers are fair game. And what if someone kills a person with his bare hands? Should we look into whether that killer worked out and built his muscles up at a gym, in which case the health club owner should be sued?

And then there’s suicide. Some people kill themselves via an overdose of pills. Should drug companies be held responsible? Others kill themselves via running the car in a closed garage. Should auto companies take the hit; or maybe home builders, who provided the garage?

It’s beyond insane.

People and politicians who support such absurdity should not be permitted to evade these questions. That’s the problem. Advocates of gun control generally speak and act as if you’d have to be insane to challenge them. You must love guns, which means you must love violence. In their minds, there is no such thing as self-defense; only offense. Yet if you decide to go out and harm somebody with a gun, not in self-defense but for criminal intent, they stand ready to excuse away some of the blame for reasons of racism, income inequality or – the way we’re going – the wrongdoing of the gun manufacturers.

The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) of 2005 protects gun makers and dealers from lawsuits stemming from crimes in which their products are used.

The percentage of various groups that support the PLCAA, according to the survey results:

91 percent of “strong Republican” voters

86 percent of voters who “lean Republican”

47 percent of “strong Democrat” voters

67 percent of voters who “lean Democrat”

75 percent of independent voters

Interesting. If these statistics are reliable, then any candidate running against Hillary Clinton has a lot to gain by taking an uncompromising, unequivocal stand on the Second Amendment. If the Republican nominee—assuming we have a two-way race—makes the Second Amendment a pivotal, central issue of the campaign, it’s possible that nominee could win.

A lot more freedoms are under attack in the United States than only the Second Amendment, important as it is. But it’s as good a place as any to draw a line in the sand, and tell the advocates of unlimited government (in both parties) that people are not going to take it anymore. And let’s not forget: The people are still armed.

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