I don’t carry a gun because I want trouble. I carry a gun because I have no say on whether someone else wants trouble.
That’s kind of how most law-abiding armed citizens feel. We’re not looking for a fight, we’re just ready if a fight comes looking for us. Nothing about that is particularly complicated.
The thing is, many criminals also carry a gun for the same reason. Sure, they’re likely to misuse that gun at various opportunities, but they also know they have enemies, and they’re likely to need that gun if they come looking to get rowdy.
One such bad guy appeared before a judge while appealing his conviction for illegal gun possession. The case itself is nothing special, but the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms has a major problem with the judge’s comment in his decision.
From a press release:
When U.S. District Judge James L. Robart sentenced Kenan Dejuan Brown to prison for illegal firearm possession, he told the repeat offender—who said he “felt safe” having a gun—that, “In my experience a gun is an invitation to get into trouble,” according to a Justice Department news release.
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said the judge’s remark, perhaps unintentionally, casts aspersions on tens of millions of law-abiding gun owners who own firearms for personal protection and the defense of their families and other loved ones.
“We take no issue at all with Judge Robart’s dispatch of a recidivist criminal to prison,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “but his opinion about gun ownership amounts to a slap in the face for armed private citizens who have successfully defended themselves against criminal attacks because they had a gun. The judge’s comment also seems to minimize the courageous acts of armed citizens who have intervened and stopped mass shootings, saving countless lives in the process.
“Sorry, your honor,” Gottlieb added, “but for millions of honest citizens, having a gun in an emergency has gotten them out of trouble and prevented tragedies.”
…
“Judge Robart’s remark was a misstatement,” Gottlieb said, “but it pales in comparison to the repeated falsehoods from anti-gun Democrats whose focus on restricting the rights of law-abiding gun owners, while allowing repeat offenders to roam our streets, has eroded public safety for decades.”
Robart was nominated by President George W. Bush, so it’s possible this really was just a misspeak–maybe he meant that phrase to specify criminals and didn’t realize it could come across otherwise–but it’s still a troubling statement from a US District Court judge.
Like Gottlieb, I can’t get worked up about a career criminal being kept behind bars, even if I don’t necessarily agree with the laws he broke in this case, but the idea that carrying a gun is “an invitation to get in trouble” is especially troubling in this day and age. It fails to account for the fact that millions of Americans carry each and every day for years on end without once getting into any kind of trouble. That’s not why they carry it.
To fail to make any distinction between career, recidivist criminals, and law-abiding gun owners is unacceptable.
Gottlieb also noted that Brown’s arrest is a classic example of how gun control doesn’t work, since he not only had a gun despite his status as a convicted felon, but also had an extended magazine, which was made illegal in the state of Washington the previous year.
Whoops.
Robart screwed up, at best. At worst, he let the mask slip, and he’s told millions of armed Americans what he thinks of them.
There should be no tolerance for that.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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