A gun-rights advocate challenging the St. Louis Zoo’s policy that prohibits people from bringing in weapons says he and others may show up next week carrying firearms. Jeffry Smith, 56, who in October led a march of about 40 people through downtown St. Louis to assert their right to carry guns openly in public, said he might defy the zoo’s signs that say no firearms or weapons are allowed on the property. State law does prohibit guns in gated areas of amusement parks, but Smith questions whether the zoo fits that description because it is a public, taxpayer-supported attraction. “That signage, unless it’s backed up by case law or statutory law, is nothing more than the zoo’s attempt to reinforce their biases and to deceive people into not exercising their rights,” said Smith, of Cincinnati. “This is not about protecting oneself from the wildebeests in the zoo. This is about the zoo deceiving people into thinking they don’t have that choice” of whether to bring a gun in or leave it in a car.
I don’t know about you, but I’m sick to death of angry White males deciding that they and ONLY they have to the power to decide where firearms can be openly carried (hint: EVERYWHERE).
Dear ammosexuals: I hate to break it to you, but your gun “rights” do not trump those of all others- especially those who disagree with you. Despite what you may think, the 2nd Amendment is not a license to carry any sort of firepower anywhere you choose. Your absolutist, intolerant, and just plain wrong interpretation of the 2nd Amendment only serves to indicate that you really don’t give a damn about others, or their right to be safe in public from attention whores who think that guns guarantee freedom and safety. Jeffery Smith is merely another gun worshipper who refuses to understand that his take on his constitutional rights are not the only opinion that counts…and that he’s badly mistaken.
You don’t get to demand that what you’ve determined your “rights” to be while simultaneously ignoring the rights of others, including those who want to be safe from idiots carrying weapons in public places. That doesn’t make you a patriot; it makes you a sociopath.
The 2nd Amendment represents the most misunderstood and misinterpreted 27 words in the American language:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
People like Smith are quick to latch onto the “right of the people to keep and bear arms” even as they ignore “[a] well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State.” We no longer live in 18th century America, where the militia by and large was the people, who kept weapons to protect their all-too-often threatened safety and security. If we still lived in that world, I’d have no problem with ammosexuals demanding the sun, the moon, and the stars…but we don’t. The 2nd Amendment is a whole, not parts to be chopped and bastardized to suit whatever your agenda might be.
Sadly, those of us who believe that common sense gun control means being able to live in a world in which those who worship guns above all else shouldn’t set the agenda are shouted down by ammosexuals. It’s difficult to understand what part of “common sense” they refuse to grasp. It’s not as if those advocating for common sense gun control are angling to take their guns, though some (like myself) could make a convincing argument for that.
There’s absolutely no reason- none, zero, zip, nada- why angry White men should be allowed to carry AR-15s or AK-47s into public areas- airports, stores, coffee shops, malls, etc. If you see nothing wrong with that, I’d only ask one question:
How would you react if an African-American male attempted to do the same thing? If you with a straight face said, “The same way,” I’d submit that you’re a liar.
This argument isn’t about gun rights- not really. It’s about a class of frustrated, angry White men seeking attention and demanding that they get to do whatever they deem reasonable and appropriate. It’s about them hijacking government and the rule of law through the threat of force of arms. It’s about sociopaths who care nothing for the safety and well-being of others; they care only for themselves and what they want…and it’s time people and the government that represents them stood up and slapped them down.
More guns don’t make everyone safer. Lord knows there are more than enough studies demonstrating that. It’s time for ammosexuals to understand that they don’t to get to endanger public safety in order to prove a point…whatever that point may be. We’re all in this together, and the vast majority of Americans simply don’t want to lived in an armed society. It’s time to stand up to the bullies.
