By David Codrea
USA – -(Ammoland.com)- John Glenn has passed away at the age of 95. The Marine pilot, astronaut and senator died Thursday afternoon at Wexler Medical Center in Columbus, OH, surrounded by family.
The man was unquestionably an American hero, having flown a total of 149 combat missions in World War II and the Korean War. He literally put his life on the line for this country uncounted times, deserving our gratitude for a debt we can never pay back.
For many of us growing up at the time of his perilous first Mercury orbital mission in Friendship 7, he was a larger-than-life icon.
And for those of us who went on to become advocates for the right to keep and bear arms, he was an enigma we’ll forever have trouble reconciling. Our admiration for his deeds will be dogged by recognition of the lead Glenn took in imposing infringements that dictate the way guns are owned and transferred today.
“Pro–gun control advocates mobilized and constructed an effective pro–gun control pressure group called the Emergency Committee for Gun Control,” Encycopedia.com documents. “The bipartisan organization was headed by Colonel John H. Glenn, Jr., a former astronaut and friend of Senator Robert Kennedy.”
The most significant federal legislation since the 1934 National Firearms Act, GCA ’68 “primarily focuses on regulating interstate commerce in firearms by generally prohibiting interstate firearms transfers except among licensed manufacturers, dealers and importers.” It also added marking requirements, denied guns to specific classes of “prohibited persons” and placed import restrictions on “non-sporting” weapons.
As Aaron Zelman and Richard J. Stevens of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership documented in “’Gun Control’- Gateway to Tyranny,” GCA ’68 author Sen. Thomas Dodd was not only in possession of a copy of German “gun control” laws from 1938, but that a side-by-side comparison with U.S. law reveals fundamental similarities, particularly when it comes to the origin of “sporting purpose” restrictions.
That’s an irreconcilable difference those of us who admired John Glenn, but believed him to have been gravely mistaken in his views on the right to keep and bear arms, will carry into eternity.
That’s sad, because for many of us, “God speed John Glenn” is more than words from history, it’s a sentiment we feel as we come to grips with and mourn his passing.
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.
In addition to being a field editor/columnist at GUNS Magazine and associate editor for Oath Keepers, he blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
It should not be looked over that George H. W. Bush was the only member of the Texas deligation that voted FOR the 1968 GCA. Seems many forget this when holding the Bushes on a pedistal.
I’m personally not sure why they call John Glenn a hero. Just because he went into space and orbited around the earth? We sent monkeys into space and orbited around the earth and we don’t hail them as heroes. I think we use the word ‘Hero’ too loosely.
I remember watching Glenn’s journey into orbit in February, 1962 (as well as Alan Shephard’s journey into space in May, 1961), and feeling a sense or pride, at the tender age of 6. Having said that, I agree with Dave Codrea, in that I can’t understand Glenn’s support for onerous gun-control legislation, especially since he flew those combat missions against a regime that disarmed its subjects, and whose gun-control statutes served as the model for the Gun Control Act of 1968. In fairness, it’s not just John Glenn, though. I had a lot of respect for the Israeli author and… Read more »
Don’t just blame Glenn, 51% of Ohio voters put him in place because he was a passenger in a Mercury ballistic space pod.
David,
You’re one of my heroes. Keep up the good work.
Sincerely,
Dave Burch
I guess everybody gets at least one chance to piss someone else off!
Judge the man by his actions, place them on a scale, and let things settle out by themselves….no need to lean in on a dead man’s legacy.
R.I.P. John Glenn
I recall writing a term paper in HS in ’64 on Dodd’s efforts to enact stringent gun control, which culminated in the GCA of ’68. So this stuff is never ending effort by those among us, including the late Sen. Glenn, and I must say it always comes as a surprise to me when ex-military types come out as Progressive/Liberal Dems and inevitably decide that the Constitution only matters when it has a positive impact for their person … like taking the 5th.
Not only was Col Glenn anti-gun, but he was also against females ever being pilots in the armed forces or NASA. He personally prevented the seven female astronauts of Mercury 13 from ever getting into space. And, when NASA was getting ready to let him get a ride on the shuttle, there was a movement to allow one of the original Mercury 13 gals ride along also and he said NO. If there was ever a misogynist, he was one.
Anti-Constitutional/ant-freedom/ anti-gun activists live on in high military and NASA types. Gen Petraeus, Mark Kelley(astronaut), both gun banners and Petraeus up for Sec of State.
It is sort of strange but of the good number of military officers who came up in the Viet Name era and before are anti-gun. Officers, not rank and file. Don’t know why that is but a good number are.