Will Media Hate Speech Against Gun Owners Lead To Hate Crimes

 

Second Amendment Foundation
Second Amendment Foundation

BELLEVUE, WA –-(Ammoland.com)- Hate speech directed at gun owners and firearms rights groups in the wake of the Connecticut tragedy could lead to hate crimes, the Second Amendment Foundation said today.

SAF said statements made by broadcasters including Piers Morgan and Chris Matthews, as well as comments on social media have contributed to an environment of hate directed against law-abiding Americans who are being demonized for a crime they did not commit.

This comes as President Obama has launched an effort that could culminate in an attempt to ban semiautomatic sport-utility rifles and ammunition magazines, and impose other restrictions on gun owners who are not responsible for the actions of an obviously mentally disturbed individual.

“Focusing on the instrumentality of firearms alone to the exclusion of possible other causative factors is doomed to failure and would do an injustice to the memories of the Sandy Hook victims and their families,” said SAF President Joseph Tartaro. “Of course, we are pleased to see that by adopting a broad task force approach in search of solutions to prevent or reduce the kind of violence that was visited upon Newtown, CT, last week that the president has sought the expertise of several cabinet departments that deal with mental health, educational administration, pharmacology, law enforcement and cultural issues in addition to firearms.”

But SAF cautioned that narrowing the focus to firearms and pushing a ban on popular semiautomatic firearms will only fuel the campaign of hate now underway on cable television and in social media. For example, Morgan called one national gun rights leader “an unbelievably stupid man,” Matthews suggested gun owners are, “..people on the far-right (who) never lose their passion Normal people have other interests like their spouses, their lives, their children, and even their generalized politics isn’t driven by one issue.” A university professor in Rhode Island tweeted, “Looks like the National Rifle Association has murdered some children.”

“The remarks become obscene after that,” noted SAF Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb. “We have received some vulgar e-mails from people that want us to vanish for the sake of a civilized world’.

“This kind of rhetoric does not contribute to any rational discussion,” he said. “Vitriol like this only promotes hate, but apparently it’s okay to perpetuate bigotry so long as you are an anti-gunner, and a liberal. If anyone is harmed as a result of this hate campaign, we expect them to be prosecuted under the hate crimes laws.”

“If this hate speech leads to hate crimes,” Gottlieb concluded, “people like Piers Morgan and Chris Matthews will be partly responsible.”

The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control. In addition to the landmark McDonald v. Chicago Supreme Court Case, SAF has previously funded successful firearms-related suits against the cities of Los Angeles; New Haven, CT; New Orleans; Chicago and San Francisco on behalf of American gun owners, a lawsuit against the cities suing gun makers and numerous amicus briefs holding the Second Amendment as an individual right.

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Mike Glaser

Steve,

I as well have greatly enjoyed engaging in this brief discussion with you. Your civility, reason, and obvious good faith give me hope, as well, for the future of our Nation. You are definitely one of the "good guys." Again, God bless you and your family, and of course, the United States of America.

Steve Bishop

Mike, I thank you again for your response and wish you all the same. Discussing the matter with someone such as yourself has given me more hope than I've had the last several days on this matter. We can "agree to disagree," but I still very much respect your sincerity and patriotism, and furthermore, learned something from your comments.

Mike Glaser

Steve, I sincerely appreciate your courteous and honest reply to my post. If the discourse over this divisive issue were as civil as that embodied in your response, I truly believe that people could hammer out solutions to the problem that actually might be effective. That being said, I know without a doubt that if the Obama Administration were able to seize all firearms from the hands of private citizens without triggering (no pun intended) Civil War II, it would do so. I purchased what the media has falsely dubbed an "assault rifle" in 1984, when I was still a… Read more »

Steve Bishop

Mike, I truly respect your service as a police officer and, as a moderate on gun control, your articulate statements. But let me say, with all due respect: Most Americans are not calling for some restrictive ban on guns, but rather just some limitations such as the assault rifle or high-capacity magazine ban. Yet the responses out there sounds like the Obama administration is about to take all the guns away and we'll descend into tyranny? Is this not a bit of overreacting, to say the least? I know the arguments, that the previous ban didn't do any good and… Read more »

Mike Glaser

I don’t officially speak for the NRA… I am but a single member. I am also a loving father and grandfather, who is sickened by the specter of murdered schoolchildren, dead teachers, fallen police officers, and all other victims of criminal violence, including and especially those killed in last week’s nightmare at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. As a former police officer myself who joined the NRA while still a street cop, I would like to respond to those of you who have seized upon this horrific and grisly occasion to denigrate, threaten, libel, slander, and engage in… Read more »

Buck

If liberal haters want to hate me go right ahead , afterall , I literally despise them for their hatred of America and Americans .

Chuck

I have my .45 on me and so do my sons and our CWP. Bring 'em! The only good gun grabber is a dead one!