Over the last year or so, there have been a number of politically motivated crimes. Two attempts on President Trump's life, the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and the numerous attacks on ICE personnel all show there should be concern about leftists.
But the leftists who have long called for gun control are now embracing firearms out of fear of the Right.
Yeah, I find that more than a little hysterical; however, that seems to be the reasoning, such as it is, given in a recent report:
When Charles was growing up in the 1970s in Brooklyn, N.Y., his mother was so strict, she forbade toy guns of any kind, including squirt guns.
“I remember vividly, summertime, when my friends would have water gun fights and I couldn’t participate,” he recalls.
He grew up and became a doctor, and these days, he heads to a shooting range in Maryland each week for target practice with his Smith & Wesson .380.
Charles, who is Black, says he bought the handgun after the Trump administration did things that scared him, including arresting a foreign student who criticized her university’s policy on Israel and handcuffing a U.S. senator who was forcibly removed from a Homeland Security news conference.
“What I’m talking about is protecting myself from a situation where there may be some kind of civil unrest,” says Charles. Like most people who spoke with NPR for this story, he asked that his last name not be used for fear of retribution.
Charles says he worries that some of President Trump’s supporters may feel emboldened someday to target minorities like him and his family.
“He could dispatch citizens or the government,” Charles says. “I’m not saying that’s what’s going to happen. What I’m saying is none of this is out of the question any longer.”
Of course, that particular senator interrupted the press conference by approaching Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, had no outward identification of who he was, and was otherwise a prime example of why leftists should probably not be allowed in polite society.
And I'm not entirely sure which student was arrested that old Charles is referring to there, but most of them have turned out to be either illegal immigrants or were inciting acts of terrorism. Something along those lines, anyway.
Still, he's not alone in this. A lot of leftists are arming themselves out of fear of what Trump might do.
In other words, the Trump Derangement Syndrome Brigade is weaponizing.
Look, I get that not everyone likes the man. I didn't for quite some time myself, so I get it. I also think it's generally a good thing when people from across the political divide embrace their Second Amendment rights. I've argued with anti-gun folks about how they can't call Trump a tyrant and a fascist, but also want all of us to give up our guns so he's got a monopoly on firearms.
Seeing someone recognize that is a good thing.
But let's also be real. The ones who are committing most of the violence of late are leftists. It's not Trump and company; it's the fringe leftists who think our borders should be open so every criminal who wants to can waltz in here, claim the United States as theirs, and push the rest of us out of our own country.
Fearing what Trump might do is pretty dumb when there's more reason to fear what leftists are going to do.
