Esquire’s editor-at-large penned a letter to the National Rifle Association in the wake of the Santa Fe High School massacre in Texas.
Dave Holmes accused the NRA of having “bought our government” and convincing its “members that the occasional school shooting, the odd literal slaughter of innocents, is an unfortunate but inevitable quirk of American life, a thing that is necessary to preserve freedom.” Okay.
Holmes’ wrote:
Anyway, I just wanted to drop you a line and let you know that I now actually do want to take your guns.
All of your guns.
Right now.
“It wasn’t always this way,” he wrote. “I have responsible gun owners in my family. I’ve never been a fan of shooting at things myself, but guns sure do seem to have brought joy into the lives of some people I love, and as long as they were stored properly, I never had a problem with them being around. I believed that we should place a hurdle or two between a psychopath and an AR-15, but that’s about as ardent as I got. Live and let live, that was my policy. Even with death machines…That has all changed. And you changed it.”
Holmes said the NRA “had the opportunity to work with the vast majority of Americans who support the sensible reform of our gun laws. You have had the chance to preserve your own rights as we work together to keep our gun regulations in step with gun technology. You haven’t.”
More from Holmes’ piece:
I was stunned and sad after Parkland. I was heartened by the efforts of the young people who watch their friends get murdered in front of them. I watched you make nice with them on CNN and then, behind their backs, call them terrorists. And then this morning I watched the same goddamn thing happen again, only this time at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas, where at least ten people are dead. As though all of the marching and organizing and common-sense talking had never happened. As though this ever growing pile of young bodies is worth nothing.
So now I’m angry. Now I’m finished trying to reason with you. So now I, a guy who was ambivalent about guns just a few years ago, want to take your guns away. All of them. I want to take them all and melt them down and shape them into a giant sphere and then push it at you so you have to run away from it like Indiana Jones for the rest of your lives. I want Ted Nugent to roam the halls of his gunless house, sighing wearily until he dies. I want to end this thing once and for all, so that all of you who have prioritized the sale of guns over the lives of children have to sit quietly and think about what you’ve done. God help me, I want to take all of your guns out of your hands, by myself, right now.
He concluded by saying, “It’s happening. We tried it your way, and it really did not work. The ground is shifting. Get ready.”
What Mr. Holmes may not have noticed was that back in December 2107, the Republican controlled house voted to further federalize gun laws in this country. The bill expands the ability of the Federal government to restrict Americans’ right to bear arms. The NRA was in lockstep with lawmakers.
During the legislative process, the NRA supported merging the bill aimed at nationalizing concealed carry permits with another piece of legislation aimed at “fixing” the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS.) The legislation was due to the failure of the US Air Force to report the criminal record of Devin Kelley, who went on to commit a shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
As Congressman Thomas Massie noted in his own criticism of the bill:
When President Obama couldn’t get Congress to pass gun control, he implemented a strategy of compelling, through administrative rules, the Veterans Administration and the Social Security Administration to submit lists of veterans and seniors, many of whom never had a day in court, to be included in the NICS database of people prohibited from owning a firearm. Only a state court, a federal (article III) court, or a military court, should ever be able to suspend your rights for any significant period of time.
Centralizing gun legislation within the Federal Government can be problematic. In Ohio and Hawaii where each state has legalized the use of medical marijuana, but they also restrict those who use medical marijuana from owning guns.
In 2011, the Federal government sent a letter to licensed gun dealers reiterating that marijuana users were prohibited from owning a gun – even if it they have a medical prescription. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld this decision last year. Hawaii, which requires gun registration, has gone as far as sending letters to permitted gun owners with marijuana prescriptions requiring they turn over their weapons.
The NRA has come out in support of these measures.
The Obama Agenda Remains the Same
According to emails obtained via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, first reported by The Baltimore Post, advisors to then-President Barack Obama immediately strategized how to exploit the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary school to push their gun control agenda. “Tap peoples [sic] emotions,” Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel advised then-Education Secretary Arne Duncan on December 16, 2012, just two days after the massacre that left 26 dead. The victims’ bodies were yet to be laid to rest.
The two discussed how they could exploit the tragedy to bring about their anti-gun agenda. “What are your thoughts?” Duncan asked Emanuel on an email with the subject line, “CT shooting.”
“Go for a vote this week asap before it fades,” replied Emanuel. “Tap peoples [sic] emotion. Make it simple assault weapons.”
“Yup- thanks,” replied the education secretary.
“When I did brady bill and assault weapons for Clinton we always made it simple. Criminals or war weapons,” wrote back Emanuel.
Duncan then inquired about the so-called “gun show loophole” and other talking points to push on the public.
“Gun show loophole? Database? Cop-killer bullets? Too complicated?” he wrote.
“Cop killer maybe,” answered Emanuel. “The other no.”
“Got it,” Duncan agreed.
Emanuel served as the Obama White House Chief of Staff from 2008 to January of 2009.
“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste, and what I mean by that is, it’s an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.” – Rahm Emanuel
Manhattan Institute senior fellow Max Eden called the immediate politicization of the tragedy “shameful.”