In yet another anti-gun piece, Daily Beast contributor Cliff Schecter insisted that for NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre, “protecting the rights of homicidal maniacs” and “keeping the blood money flowing from international arms dealers” was simply part of the job description. Schecter made the charge in his provocatively-titled July 10 piece “Blame Guns for Domestic Murder Epidemic.”
Schechter was doing what he does best, capitalizing on the latest horrific gun crime in the news to flog his agenda. In this case it was a Texas man who killed a handful of family members before being pursued and captured alive by police.
The anti-gun activist listed off a few pieces of legislation the NRA has opposed, and didn’t refrain from attacking the pro-gun group personally for their political position: “One thing you gotta say for them, they are consistent in being just terrible, horrible people.”
Schecter continued by making reference to state legislatures passing so-called “nullification bills,” which essentially claim that the state does not have to follow federal gun laws. In the process, Schecter made sure to call gun-rights supporters in these states “dunderheads posing as legislators hav[ing] decided to give ignorant pigheadedness another try.”
Schecter, a paid consultant for the National Gun Victims Action Council, wrapped up the piece by offering a solution about what to do to fight against those “Tea Party know nothings”:
We must not back down to them. We cannot give into the threats of Cliven Bundy-ish criminals who have declared war against the United States. Not only because it empowers them. But because it empowers the domestic abuser who might live in a neighborhood near you to commit mass murder.
While Schecter claims that there is a national epidemic of domestic murder, most reports suggest gun violence and mass shootings have either declined or remained steady in recent decades. The fierce anti-gun rhetoric is nothing knew from Schecter, who has made a habit of making inflammatory comments about guns-rights supporters and in particular the NRA.
More often than not, when someone must resort to petty name calling and wild accusations, they have probably lost the argument. Schecter’s ad hominem attacks on the NRA and gun owners are certainly unlikely to convince anyone, even if he elicits cheers from the most rabidly partisan gun-rights opponents.
It's a small wonder that The Daily Beast continues to give him such a large platform to rage against guns.
