Gun Control Advocates Must Show They Like Guns

Lobbying for gun control in the United States often means proving how much you like firearms.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose state recently passed some of the strictest gun control measures in the country, often reminds people he is a hunter. Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who founded a gun control advocacy group after surviving a gunshot wound to the head, says she and her husband keep two guns in a safe at home. Vice President Joe Biden boasts that he owns two shotguns.

Even the White House recently released a photo of President Barack Obama skeet shooting at the Camp David presidential retreat, trying to silence skeptics of his claim in an interview that he has actually shot a gun.

The message is obvious: They, too, are a part of America’s gun culture. In a country where at least a third of households have firearms, it’s hard to impose stricter arms rules without support from gun owners. That means reassuring Americans that nobody is going to take away the guns they have legally acquired.

Gun rights groups scoffed at what they called clumsy and obvious attempts by Biden and Obama to ingratiate themselves with firearm owners even while trying to limit their rights.

“It’s transparent, cynical and hollow and gun owners see right through it,” said Lawrence Keane, senior vice president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, an association that represents gun manufacturers.

But gun control proponents have pressed on with such efforts ahead of a crucial Senate vote on legislation backed by the Obama administration in response to the Dec. 14 shooting of 20 children and six educators at a Connecticut school.

A recent $12 million ad campaign, bankrolled by billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, urged moderate Republican and Democratic senators to support expanding federal background checks for gun sales, a system that currently applies only to federally licensed dealers. Advocates want to include gun show sales.

Far from criticizing guns, the ad shows a scruffy-faced man holding a shotgun in the back of a pickup truck. He argues that background checks don’t infringe on the Second Amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees the right of citizens to bear arms and is often cited by gun rights defenders.

“For me, guns are about hunting and protecting my family,” the man says, as two children play on tire swings in the background. “I believe in the Second Amendment, and I’ll fight to protect it. But with rights come responsibilities. That’s why I support comprehensive background checks, so criminals and the dangerously mentally ill can’t buy guns.”

Obama and others are touting state efforts to curb gun buys as signs that the country can bridge one of its deepest cultural divides: The split between mostly rural Americans who cherish guns for hunting and self-defense and urban citizens who equate them with gang violence, drive-by shootings and young lives lost.

“I’m 100 percent for expanded background checks, because if you have something to hide, we don’t want you to have a gun,” said Jaci Turner, a gun owner who lives in a suburb of Denver, Colorado. “I don’t have anything to hide, so I’ll answer all your questions.”

Biden tried to strike a bipartisan tone in a recent town hall. Reminiscing about learning firearm safety from his father, a hunter, the vice president said he has told his wife, Jill, to take one of their shotguns and “fire two blasts outside the house” if she ever felt threatened by an intruder. His point was that nobody needs a semi-automatic weapon to protect their home. “Buy a shotgun, buy a shotgun,” Biden urged listeners.

But for some gun defenders, Biden only proved that the gap remains wide between his side of the debate and theirs.

Turner said she wants to add a semi-automatic to her collection for that very reason. “Well, good luck, Joe,” she said, referring to the vice president. “When someone walks in the house and you’re freaked out, you’re only going to give her two chances? Good luck.”

This article appeared in print on page 5 of the April 9th, 2013 edition of Hamodia.