By now, we get it. We know that Shannon Watts doesn’t like guns. In and of itself, there’s nothing wrong with that. Lots of people don’t like or care about firearms in any way, shape, or form. Kind of like how some don’t care about sports.
What sets Shannon apart from so many others, however, is that while she doesn’t like guns, she’s convinced people should listen to her opinion on the topic. This despite not understanding the first thing about them except they give her the vapors.
Take this tweet from Shannon:
You can buy this at @SportsmansWH if you’re 18. Tell them #NoGunUntil21 pic.twitter.com/85o34rbbD5
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) March 2, 2018
Now, if you don’t know anything about firearms, that’s a scary looking assault rifle…only, it’s not. It’s a Ruger Precision Rimfire .22 bolt action. It’s literally the least scary firearm anyone could own.
To be sure, people took her to task over this one. They should have.
But what’s really important here isn’t what people said to Shannon. It’s really not. What’s important is that this illustrates so much of the problem with gun grabbers and their perpetual attempts to regulate guns. Their issue isn’t so much about the function of a firearm, but its looks.
For example, when was the last time you saw a politician standing there with a Mini-14 or an M1A using that as an example of a firearm we need to tightly regulate?
They don’t do it. After all, those rifles look an awful lot like your traditional hunting rifles, and they’re not nearly as scared of those guns as they are the proverbial “ghost gun with a .30 caliber magazine clip,” or something like that. More importantly, however, is they don’t think you will be as scared of those guns.
Shannon picked that particular gun because it’s scary looking. It has an M-Lok rail system like a so-called assault rifle, and it has a Picatinny scope base like many evil black rifles, and it has a magazine that’s a little too long for her tastes, so it must be an evil rifle.
But it’s a bolt-action .22 for crying out loud.
It doesn’t matter. Most of the Moms Demand Action crowd, like Shannon, don’t really understand the items they are pushing to regulate. They don’t feel like they need to understand them. They figure they know all they need to know via talking points and Salon articles. What more do they need to know, right?
Meanwhile, we understand what a barrel shroud does. We understand that a phrase like “.30 caliber magazine clip” makes no blasted sense. We understand the items being discussed and we have a working knowledge of what they can and can’t do.
As such, this particular rifle doesn’t look scary to us. It’s got some tactical-like features on a precision rifle chambered in a caliber that’s really too small to use for anything but punching holes in paper or taking on small game like squirrels or rabbits. That’s it.
We don’t get worked up over the looks of a rifle because we understand the basic reality that the looks don’t mean jack.
From there, we understand a lot more about guns such as how laws–particularly laws over “scary looking” rifles–accomplish nothing at all.
In a way, though, I’m glad Shannon doesn’t know this. Her ineptitude is always good for a laugh if nothing else.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member