‘Second Amendment Guy’ Ben Stein Should Learn Before Presuming to Teach

There will be a lot more tragedy and a lot fewer survivors if “Second Amendment Guy” Ben Stein’s proposed infringements on the right to keep and bear arms are attempted. (Chad J. McNeeley, U.S. Navy/Public Domain)

U.S.A. –(Ammoland.com)- “Stalin Would Approve,” Ben Stein writes in his regular “Diary” feature at The American Spectator. “The only thing missing so far is the live ammo.”

It’s a perceptive point about the cold civil war manifesting itself in the “progressive” Brett Kavanaugh witch trial.

Stein, for those unfamiliar with his work, is an actor (as well as a writer, lawyer and former speechwriter for Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford) who enjoys Republican approval as a “conservative” commentator. He’s arguably best known for his role in 1986’s “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” playing the Economics Teacher who delivered the now-iconic droning and repetitious lines “Anyone, anyone…?” and “Bueller, Bueller…?

It’s instructive that Stein gets that what is playing out on the Democrat side of the aisle is thinly-disguised Stalinism, and that totalitarianism is the goal with genocidal tyranny being the result. It’s not hyperbole if Stein’s observations are allowed to stand:

There is no trial on facts or law any longer. As others have pointed out, we now have “guilt by accusation.”…To stop Donald Trump, the Democrats have tossed out the whole basis of Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence — innocent until proven guilty…Is there no end to it? Stalin would approve. So would Goebbels…

“If this Democrat trick works, there simply is no meaningful legal protection in this country any longer,” Stein quite accurately declares. “This is a defining moment for the Constitution…Republicans…WAKE UP!”

Seeing that Stein appears to grasp the gravity of that, another “Diary” entry contradicts its own subhead:

“The Time for Civilians to Own AR-15s Is Over,” Stein wrote in February. “Let’s have at least a modicum of common sense.”

He’s adopted the goals and even the terminology of the gun-grabbers.

“Now, I’m a Second Amendment guy,” Stein argues, making essentially the same argument Barack Obama did. “I believe Americans who are sane and not criminals and pass a genuine background test should be allowed to own weapons for home protection and for target shooting and for self-defense.”

Prior restraints for “shall not be infringed”? “Allowed”? Perhaps Stein could point to the delegated power in the Constitution he says he recognizes “defining moments” for.

Next, he does what every gun-grabber who professes belief in the Second Amendment always does. He shows everybody his big “but”:

“But for the life of me, I cannot see why any American civilians need an AR-15 or any other military-style semi-automatic rifle.”

An entry over at Urban Dictionary comes to mind (Warning: explicit language/NSFW).

Readers weren’t buying it and took Stein to the woodshed in comments.  Despite instructional feedback, like all with closed minds who presume to teach but don’t even belong in the class without passing some prerequisites, he doubled down on the cognitive dissonance.

“It’s horrifying and yet another example of why no civilian needs an AR-15 or a facsimile. It’s just sickening,” Stein declared in a few months later after a known nutjob who’d had his guns taken away twice before shot up a “gun-free” Waffle House. “I’m a Second Amendment guy, but no one needs a gun that just begs the owner to start shooting people.”

Only delusional lunatics who can’t be trusted without a custodian believe their guns are begging them to do anything. This “conservative thought leader” who would presume to instruct us on the Constitution has embraced the primitive “legal” concept of the deodand, where an inanimate object could be blamed for a death and then seized by the government.

Stalin would approve. And the further danger is Stein, by being presented as a “conservative,” is given a platform to influence Republican thought. We see the dangerous infringements that can arise from that type of “thinking.”

Who knows what the Second Amendment says and why the Founders considered it so fundamental to freedom?

Anyone? Anyone…? Stein? Stein? Stein…?


About David Codrea:David Codrea

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner 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.

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Beeroy

I sort of agree with him. If civilians are to remove a tyrant, they don’t need ARs. They need sniper rifles. The AR, you use that to take out his bodyguards.

RSCamaro

Interesting. I’m sure that people are aware that the AR- platform is the most versatile firearm platform that has ever been produced. AR pattern firearms can be found in as small a caliber as a .177 BB or Air Soft guns, .17 and .22 rimfire, pistol calibers such s 9mm and .45 acp, with short and long barrels and produced as pistols, small bore rifle for the military and for varmint control, medium bore that is regularly used for medium game such as deer and sheep, large bore rifle .30 caliber and larger for larger game and long range target… Read more »

Coelacanth

Did Rosa Parks “need” the seat at the front of the bus? An armed citizenry will never be unwillingly forced into railroad boxcars at gunpoint.

TheHolyCrow

These LEO’s and Judges who enforce the illegal, Unconstitutional laws, contrary to the SUPREMACY CLAUSE OF THE US CONSTITUTION, don’t “need” their over inflated salaries and pensions either. And the dirtbag legislators who write these unconstitutional laws, although they should know better, don’t “need” their lives, either. They should go hang tgemselves just for being the dirtbag human excrement they are. How dare they expect us to go around this dangerous world with no protection, all the while they make exceptions for themselves and their friends.

Ken in commie kalifornia

Well well Mr Stein. Only what you approve of? Hummm???
You lost me sir. You’re just a FUDD.

Roy D.

Many people are conflicted. Some groups of people are more conflicted than others.

Ed

“From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.” – Karl Marx, Critique of the Gotha Program (1875)
Frankly, I do not need Stein or anybody else (especially someone in government) to question what I or anybody else needs.

tomcat

The last I knew Stein was a financial wizard that peddled his market ideas on TV. He is a jack of all trades and master of none.

Ronald Nuxon

We must cut Ben some slack. He grew up apparently, in an atmosphere/culture where guns were instruments used only
by others. Basically, he is a decent, traditional conservative (not a RINO), who will come around when he is shown the
facts of gun ownership in America. Will someone out there invite Ben to a gun club meeting and maybe, take him to
a range?

Doug

Cut him slack? Um, No. He professes to be a conservative and is speaking about the Constitution, yet adds government control/infringement over what type of weapons civilians should have access to. That alone is talking out of both sides of his mouth (a decidedly liberal activity). The Constitution doesn’t change from region to region or time to time, so there goes the handicap for the atmosphere/culture he grew up in. He is acting more like the obama’s and biden’s of the world, who claim allegiance long enough to gain power only to flip and actively work against that which they… Read more »

Rich

Stein is a member of a group, he owes allegience to that group alone. Sure he’s a “2nd Amendment guy”; for them, not for you or me. Don’t be fooled, he is lying and isn’t “coming around”.

Wild Bill

@RN, I am not cutting slack for anyone that seeks to cut short my Constitutional Civil Rights, I don’t care how tragically that you portray his up bringing.

Trumped

Typical neocon. We need to kick all of them out and send them back to the Dem party.

L.L. Smith

Who has murdered more people in the last 100 years, governments or individuals?

Woody W Woodward

“I believe Americans who are sane and not criminals and pass a genuine background test should be allowed to own weapons for home protection and for target shooting and for self-defense.” I have read our entire Constitution from 1st word to last word many times over the last 50 (+) years. To date I have not discovered anything that remotely approaches Mr.Stein’s statement. He is another person who, being much smarter than the rest of us, feels it necessary to adjust the wording of OUR Constitution to conform to his own personal opinions. Normally those people do not stop with… Read more »

2WarAbnVet

The Second Amendment doesn’t exist for “home protection and for target shooting and for self-defense”. It exists to deter tyrannical government.

Gary

That is THE reason it is there!!

Tionico

Stein is a brilliant apologist, his film Expelled was an incredible piece of research and exposé on the atheistic evolutionists who had been very successful at destroying the careers and lives of anyone who even considered that any intelligent being could possibly have designed and made what we see. He, in the end, exposes their rabid adherence to non-logic and trashing anything running counter to their prepositional assumptions. If memory serves aright, he grew up a Jewish boy in New York… and remember, NYC, since the days of Mayor Sullivan, was selectively disarmed by law. Thus kids growing up never… Read more »

Taj

Tionico,
Well “played” sir.

Taj

Casca

Ben Stein, how much money did he get from Michael Bloomberg? I’ve had guns for 64 of my 70 years and not one of them has begged me to shoot anyone! he is running with the wrong crowd Democrats apparently. Bloomberg is on Oct 5 going to launch a massive assault against our Rights with $100,00,000.00 pledged for the effort. In June Bloomberg, in Atlanta bragged we have…” the Second Amendment is on the ropes..” The President announced he is going to make Bump Stocks illegal, shortly. Does that include rubber bands too? He lost a lot of support with… Read more »

Alkemyst

So, what other rifles do we not need? SKS? AK-47? Ruger 10-.22? Mini-14? Where does it stop? when do we not “need” “Sniper” rifles, also known as any rifle with a scope? Anyone who thinks this is about need NEEDS to co look at the constitution again. It says Bill of RIGHTS, not Bill of NEEDS. We will keep beating them over the head with this until one of us is dead. Unless and until I do something with my guns to dprive someone else of THEIR rights, my guns, my weapons, my ARMS, are MY BUSINESS. And no one… Read more »

jaime

you are damn right.

joeoam

It just goes to show how effective the MSM has been in demonizing the most popular gun in the country. The weak minded fools have grabbed on to the terminology and made it a lexicon of the english language. If you were to believe them, the AR-15 platform is the cause of all homicides in the world, when in fact it is a statistical blip.

jim smith

Re; “no civilian needs an AR-15” We don’t have a bill of “needs”, we have a Bill of Rights and the purpose of the Second Amendment is clearly stated in the preamble to the Bill of Rights where it says “The convention of a number of states having at the time of their adopting of the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse, of its powers that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added”. Note that when the Second Amendment was written, every weapon was a weapon of war, there were no restrictions on the… Read more »

Tom

Yeah, used to like Ben Stein until I heard him spout his idiotic views about AR`s during a TV interview several months back.
Have concluded that he is just another elitist Richard Cranium.

MarkD

“Rochard Cranium” Bahahaha! That’s a new one to me. I’m gonna steal it.

Ron

One of the best ways to get your idea to fruition is being that ‘wolf in sheeps clothing’. Infiltrate.
Stein could very well be that ‘5th column’.

Dr. Strangelove

I’ve read a few of Stein’s columns, and he’s overly occupied with his lavish lifestyle. I don’t find him all that conservative.

Wild Bill

Stein has an impressive resume on paper. He has not one skill that would aid him in 95 percent of this country. Stein knows little of the lives of rural Americans, thus he can not understand why one would need a modern sporting rifle. Stein then falls into the trap of substituting his judgement for our judgement.
Stein sees Stalinism clearly when it applies to him. Stein sees not, when he applies his own Stalinism to others.

Wayne Clark

WB, as is normally the case, I see pretty much eye to eye with you & this is no different….except for the “modern sporting rifle” description. IMHO, an AR or AK are NOT modern sporting rifles. Modern, yes…but to designate them as “sporting rifles” is a misnomer. They are a tool with many designations, such as, hunting, target, critter dispatching, self defense & yes in obscure cases, crime. There is nothing that boxes them in with the exception of them being a firearm. It’s totally the individual using them that gives them any kind of descriptive nomenclature. To a hunter,… Read more »

joefoam

The term MSR is preferable to AR which uninformed non gun owners think stands for ‘assault rifle’. All of the uses you describe other than self defense and crime should fall under the shooting sports category so it would be accurate to describe the platform as such. And how should we describe them, shootin’ tool?
That’ll never fly. Don’t give the gun grabbers an inch, use the least offensive name you can come up with.

Don Bailey

Hello Wild Bill, You are on target, especially when it comes to individual perspectives of rights vs. need. Those of us who live in a rural/country setting, need different kinds of firearms for particular uses. My conversation with those I”m not familiar with only involves the 2nd Amendment and that people should have the kind of firearm they choose.

Wild Bill

@Dubi Bailey, good to hear from you, and thank you very much.
@joefoam, Yep, I just use the term modern sporting rifle to keep it palatable for the fence sitters.
@yzman Clark, Not to worry. Modern sporting rifle is just code for those who know, and euphemism for those that don’t

GomeznSA

Perhaps if he had let someone win enough of his money, he would have had to go out and actually work for a living and might have learned enough of real life lessons that he would NOT be a ‘butter’. He certainly has no business lecturing us 95% types about what we do or do not “need”.

Doug

Excellent observation, eloquently made.

Wild Bill

@OV, Hey, long time no hear from! That mystifies me also. Every once and a while, some dangerous lunatic, recent X- friend and part time sex partner, unbalanced stalker, or similar colleague invades their artificially safe little world, and then they scream, and run around in circles, but never seem to learn from it. This also applies to actresses.

Wild Bill

Oh, come on. That was funny!

Rich

Who is it, every. single. time.

Lord-Pi-314

Feinstein, Bloomberg, Wineberg, Lautenberg, Nadler, Soros, etc, etc, etc.,. seems like they gots an agenda, like any fifth column would. And I hate to say it because I voted for him, but look who Trump is surrounded by, hidden in the shadows and laying low. Probably blackmailing him with some secret dirt, no doubt. Well, I’ll be, it’s the Bolsheviks !!! With their dreams of the perfect Kalergi type society that they can rule over. Just Us for all !!!

Marc DV.

Have I Been Asleep for 100 Yrs.???
Since When Do Guns Speak ???
Is Something New ??? (Voice Active Firearms )
Did I Miss The Newest Production Models ???
STIEN Needs a Muzzel ( for his mouth)

Wild Bill

@mac DV, My shooting platform (rifle and scope) talks to me occasionally. They join in the accusation, “We did our part, so what happened”. Damn, I hate it when they are right!

Duane

Anybody that says they are pro 2nd amendment then says BUT.
Are NOT pro 2nd amendment.

Rock

Zackley !

Richard L

Right, Duane, we call them “Butt Monkeys” !!

1776 Patriot

And that’s fact, Jack!