Welcome To The Wild Midwest

Welcome To The Wild Midwest June 18, 2013 by Ben Crystal Welcome To The Wild Midwest PHOTOS.COM It’s been a while since I’ve written much about the plague of so-called “gun violence” raging through our beloved homeland like a nasty strain of drug-resistant gonorrhea through an Occupy squatters’ camp. I must admit, the daily deluge of disgrace flowing forth from the White House has distracted me from the Democrats’ war on the Bill of Rights and simultaneously provided cover for those liberals who exploit tragedy to further their attempts to violate the inviolable. If only President Barack Obama and his accomplices’ unprecedented mendacity and unparalleled corruption had the same effect on the anti-Bill of Rights vermin. Last week, while Obama’s minions were lying through their teeth about the extent of the National Security Agency violations of our privacy, Obama’s former campaign machine — now operating under the name “Organizing for Action” (OFA) — set the taste bar to an all-time low by celebrating the six-month anniversary of the Newtown, Conn., massacre. The ersatz evite it sent out included the line: “And in those six months, thousands more people have been killed by guns.” Much like the hackneyed phrase “gun violence,” the suggestion that people have been “killed by guns” goes beyond the usual intellectual dishonesty that marks leftist dogma. Lest you think I’m being unfair, I checked the gun safe this morning. Everything was exactly as I left it the last time. If there are wild herds of guns wandering the streets and assaulting our fellow citizens, they must be extraordinarily stealthy. I wonder how the Democrats know which guns are at fault. The OFA agitprop is part of a larger effort to reanimate the corpse of so-called “gun control.” Following their humiliating defeat in the Democrat-controlled Senate, the anti-Bill of Rights crowd is back for more. Much like the push to pass the bureaucratic monstrosity Obamacare over the objections of the majority of Americans, when it comes to expanding State control over the people, once is never enough for the Democrats. Just what is it they’re planning to deliver? OFA and their ilk say so-called “gun control” will cure everything from drug-fueled gang wars to jaywalking. But Newtown already had the laws that the anti-Bill of Rights types want to impose on the rest of us. And Newtown is a libertarian paradise compared to Obama’s old stomping grounds of Chicago. In a city that has labored under the bootheel of Democratic machine politics for more than a century, the 2nd Amendment is little more than a memory. In fact, the Supreme Court had to wade into the Windy City cesspool with the landmark 2010 McDonald v. Chicago decision just to remind the municipal tyrants that the Constitution doesn’t disembark in Des Plaines, Ill. Despite that Supreme admonishment, Chicago remains one of the most “unfriendly to liberty” cities east of San Francisco. By OFA logic, that should translate to a peaceful burg that is the envy of all others. Crime should be a pale shadow of the monster that used to stalk the Magnificent Mile. So how to explain the war zone that Chicago has become? As if the city’s murder rate wasn’t already steeper than the Himalayas, this past weekend brought new horror to the shores of Lake Michigan. By the latest count, seven Chicagoans met their ends via so-called “gun violence” over the weekend. Nearly three dozen were injured. If I were inclined to substitute anecdotal evidence for solid facts (looking at you, Al Gore), I might conclude so-called “gun control” causes so-called “gun violence.” At the exact moment OFA reloaded for another offensive on liberty, the poster city for so-called “gun control” turned into the O.K. Corral… again. As usual, the anti-Bill of Rights crowd’s lack of taste, sense and grammar is exceeded only by their remarkably poor timing. While their attempt to exploit Newtown for their own nefarious purposes failed in part because Americans were repulsed by their macabre politicization of tragedy, it also failed because their ultimate goal involved subjecting Americans to the same laws that had just publicly failed to prevent Newtown. Essentially, the Democrats said, “That didn’t work; let’s try it everywhere!” I just read another story about the free-fire zone formerly known as Chicago. Let’s not. –Ben Crystal