Retired NBA career scoring champ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is back on the attack with yet another stinging rebuke of conservatives in a commentary appearing in The Guardian. Abdul-Jabbar says he is a gun owner and "this is not a finger-wagging creed demanding the banning of all firearms." But before he's through with his latest diatribe, he's demanding legislative controls on who should be allowed to own a gun.
During Abdul-Jabbar's exploration of the passive-aggressive, sometimes abusive relationship between sports, violence and guns, he lays into President Trump, and for the second time in a month. He whines that under the Trump Administration, rational discourse has been under direct attack:
The president has called the press the 'enemy of the people' and encouraged supporters to verbally and physically harass reporters. Instead, disinformation is given out to the public (Trump recently passed his 10,000th lie as president) directly and through what amounts to the public relations branch of the White House, Fox News. This tactic is meant to stem the flow of information to the people. ...
By dumbing down the people, Trump has given the U.S. the highest proportion of climate-change deniers than almost any other country in the world, Abdul-Jabbar writes.
"Scientific, medical, and legal experts are being discredited whenever they say something that makes people uncomfortable or interferes with those seeking profits," Abdul-Jabbar drones on. "This removes any way for people of goodwill but with differing opinions to hash out those differences by examining the facts." Like Antifa goons who attempt to shut down free speech through violence? Like James Hodgkinson, the man of "goodwill" who shot Republican Congressman Steve Scalise and others at a Washington ball diamond in 2017?
The most uninformed, irrational and violent Americans are actually encouraged to express their rage, Abdul-Jabbar's story goes. "This has led to increased attacks on Muslims, Jews, and others. Hate crimes increased nationwide in 2017 and then again in 2018. Of course, those without the ability or inclination to articulate issues and discuss them rationally will want to support their opinions with guns. And guns need targets."
Social justice warrior athletes who are speaking up are also making themselves targets of violence. Colin Kaepernick, LeBron James and Stephen Curry are black, which statistically makes them bigger targets, Abdul-Jabbar claims.
Echoing condemnations of thoughts and prayers in the wake of shooting tragedies by U.S. Sen. Cory Booker and CNN anchor Don Lemon, Abdul-Jabbar drops the gun control hammer on the Second Amendment and its supporters:
"In the real world, where issuing 'thoughts and prayers' to victims’ families is easier than turning down gun lobby money, we need to demand extensive gun legislation that restricts who gets guns, what kind of guns are available, and why they want guns. Anything else is senseless. And we know what that leads to."
So who should be able to own guns, Kareem? Abdul-Jabbar and other gun control advocates ought to aim their demands to end gun violence on the actual perpetrators of those crimes.
