ABC's Blackish is clearly not playing around this season. In the season premier they dealt with the n-word. On Wednesday night? Guns. If they keep up at this rate, by week six Dre’ (Anthony Anderson) is going to be self-identifying as a mermaid. Things are definitely escalating quickly.
In an episode titled “Rock, paper, scissors, Gun,” the show jumped into the gun debate by showing a scene at a gun shop that could not possibly have been written by anyone who has ever actually gone to a gun shop:
>> So I went to exercise my second-amendment right at a local gun store.
>>There's your shotgun, ma'am.
>> Do -- do you have class for this to use?
>> [ Scoffs ] No, no, no. There's plenty of stuff on YouTube.
>> You...? Honestly, it's mostly about confidence.
>> Con...
>> Okay. Have fun.
>> Oh, I don't know...
>> Ehh, looks like you don't know.
>> Hey, man, you're really gonna sell her that?
>> Why? 'Cause she's a woman? I'm about to sell one to you, and you're a -- anyway, what can I help you with today?
>> I'd like a handgun, please. Preferably one I can hold sideways.
>> Yeah, sure thing. Just fill out this paperwork, give me a deposit, I'll give you a gun-safety test, and I'll see you in 10 days.
>> 10 da-- you mean I have to wait and take a test?
>> Mm-hmm.
>> She didn't have to.
>> Yeah, well, handguns are dangerous.
>> Please do that outside, ma'am.
>> So, obviously, the process needs a little refining. But I was on the path of making my family safe.
This is bad. Just the portrayal of everything. First, and I have no idea where this started, but liberals have this idea that every gun store salesman looks like an extra from Uncle Buck. I haven’t seen someone at a gun store who looked like they were frozen in 1985, since 1985.
Plus, as anyone who has ever been into a gun shop knows, you can’t spend 5 minutes in one of them without someone giving you a 15 minute block of instruction --solicited or otherwise-- on how to use a particular gun. The idea that a gun store owner would be so dismissive of a customer like that --especially a woman-- is silly.
There’s also a reason why shotguns are treated differently that handguns, which is because handguns are infinitely more likely to be used in the commission of a crime, as opposed to a shotgun that has to be reloaded every two rounds.
But there was of course more:
>> Nothing makes a marriage stronger than arguing over the most polarizing issue in America.
>> I just don't think that violence is ever the solution.
>> Bow, the threat is literally in our backyard. We're getting a gun.
>> So, you're saying to me, if Janine had a gun in her house, she would have been safe?
>> Yes! I'm saying people protect themselves using guns. It's what they're for.
>> Dre, statistics show that it would've been used against her, or she would've shot herself or her husband.
This is one of the left’s favorite anti-gun lines of attack. Why? Because they know that most Americans buy guns for self-defense, whether concealed carry for when they’re out and about or to keep in the house for home defense. By trying to convince you that a gun is actually more dangerous to you than it is to an intruder, they remove the number one impediment to gun confiscation.
What’s the problem with that line of attack? It’s pretty much wrong about everything.
In this episode, Dre’ wants to buy a handgun. Naturally. Why? Because handguns are the weapon of choice for defense. Over the last two decades, there have been over 50 million privately owned handguns purchased by Americans. In addition to that, the number of Americans living in Right-to-Carry states has increased by 45%. Yet, despite the fact that there are more handguns in America today than there ever have been, which according to the left should only lead to more gun violence, violent crime is at a 43 year low.
So, clearly, guns have a defensive use.
Moreover, the value of gun as a defensive tool is not just measured in the results of its use. It’s measured by the results of its presence as a deterrent. A study of prison inmates, in other words experts on the issue of what kind of effect guns have on whether or not crimes are committed, showed that 40% of crooks decided to not commit a crime or crimes out of fear that their prospective victims might be armed.
Think about that. Forty percent. How many people were not killed, maimed, or terrified and robbed because of the suspected presence of a gun? That’s huge. Not only that, the rate of “hot burglaries," or home invasions that occur when people are home, is significantly lower in the United States than in a place like England where handguns are almost exclusively owned by criminals because law-abiding Britons are almost totally forbidden to own them.
So, could you accidentally blow your toe off when fumbling around in the dark for your gun, should someone break into your home? Sure. Of course, the act of you blowing your toe off would also alert the crook to the presence of a firearm which would most likely cause him to run, leaving you minus a toe but with an otherwise intact family unit. However, your home is also far less likely to be broken into in the first place than someone who doesn’t have a gun. And your home is far less likely to be invaded while you’re home, precisely because you have the right to bear arms.
Somewhere James Madison and George Mason are saying, “You’re welcome.”
