The shooting in Bend, Oregon has largely fallen out of the news cycle. That's hardly surprising. After all, not just are the midterm elections sucking a lot of the oxygen out of the room, but an armed citizen ended the attack, thus making it an incredibly inconvenient incident to continue discussing for the mainstream media.
But we really should talk about it. After all, for the people in Oregon, it's still news, and Cam noted that anti-gun groups want new gun control legislation while state Democrats aren't exactly pouncing on the opportunity. Republicans have differing thoughts.
And so does gun rights advocate Derek LeBlanc.
Derek LeBlanc, winner of the “Activist of the Year” award from the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, posted a lengthy message on the ORGOAL website.
“No longer will we tolerate the elites protecting themselves with guns only to leave our children defenseless or without the same level of protection,” he declared. “I wrote a piece of legislation on Friday, the day after the shooting, that would repeal all of the insane ordinances that have led to the slaughter of one of our most valuable resources, our children. The bill I wrote would modify all of the Oregon Revised Statutes that created potential criminal penalties for the hero in Bend. It would also give civil protections for the defenders. Gone are the days when we will allow the hypocrisy of gun control to continue to put lives at risk. We are the captains now, if you understand the meme.”
On Nov. 3, Oregon will choose either a new governor, or re-elect its current governor, Tina Kotek, who has shown no appreciation toward gun owners or the Second Amendment.
LeBlanc’s lengthy actually challenges his readers to give this some thought.
“So how do we fix this problem, you ask,” he posits. “For one, we end the war on guns. Yes, we can admit some guns are used inappropriately, but in the majority of cases, guns are used for defensive purposes. In fact, the CDC just reported that guns are used defensively up to 3 million times annually, quite often without a shot being fired.”
LeBlanc also said that guns have a "PR problem," which is sort of true.
The mainstream media puts a lot of time into painting us a picture of guns as terrible things, and we don't really push back enough.
"Dude, you're a 2A journalist, aren't you? Why aren't you pushing back?"
I am, but let's be real here. The people who read Bearing Arms are pro-gunners who don't need convincing, and anti-gunners looking for something to lose their minds over who can't be convinced of anything. I might try to write to appeal to people, but the odds of one of them seeing anything is slimmer than if I worked for CNN.
Not that CNN would ever hire someone like me, but you get my point.
As for LeBlanc's proposal, that seems to be a simple, common-sense idea that should be as non-controversial as they come. It just protects the good guy with a gun when he acts to protect the lives of others. It shouldn't be needed, because it should be a no-brainer, but the law doesn't allow for it. It's up to the decision of local authorities, and that's not a great place for anyone to be.
Remove the penalties for someone who steps in during an attack like this and you remove potential delays as people try to decide if they should risk prison to act. I, personally, think that's not really a decision to make, especially with kids in danger, but others may disagree. Whatever.
The point is that criminal and civil protections are needed, and this is a golden opportunity for Oregon to step up and do the right thing.