Don’t Blame The Gun, Blame The Gunman!

Bob Costas is entitled to his opinion on most anything.  He has a First Amendment protected right to said opinion.  Likewise, mine is also covered by the same First Amendment.

Leave it to a hack like Bob Costas to take a bad situation and make it even worse by injecting the typical liberal gun control advocacy tactic of deflecting blame from a person to an otherwise inanimate object.  During last night’s Cowboy’s /Eagle’s broadcast halftime show, Costas offered a dissertation on how the tragedy of a murder/suicide could have been prevented were it not for our ‘gun culture’.

Costas was quoting Jason Whitlock, a Kansas City writer according to Costas, during his comments on the murder committed by Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher and Belcher’s suicide.  Belcher shot his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, nine times before driving to Chief’s headquarters and shooting himself in front of two KC coaches in the team’s parking lot.

See and hear Costas’ comments here.

Costas, quoting this Whitlock character, states that had Belcher not had access to a gun, both he and Perkins “would be alive today”.  No Bobby Boy, not necessarily so.  According to a New York Post piece on Monday, Belcher was suffering from the effects of concussions, boozing and using pain killers.  It doesn’t help matters that he and Perkins were fighting and she was planning to leave him.  Are these excuses to commit murder?  Not no, but hell no!  But to blame the ‘gun culture’ is just irresponsible and downright stupid.  Gun culture?  What about the thug culture that has crept its way into pro sports, bit by bit, over the last 2-1/2 decades or so?

Costas wouldn’t dare address that.  It’s not the individual’s actions or the behavioral history of the person whose finger pulls the trigger.  No, no, no!  It’s that damned right-wing, redneck inspired gun culture.   I didn’t even know who Belcher was before this happened, but I’ll bet my next $100 that he had his fair share of bad attitude long before he even owned the guns.  If this is really what these hacks believe, that its’ all the fault of our ‘gun culture’, they are, as usual, beyond wrong!  It’s not the fault of the manufacturer of the handgun or the gun dealer or individual who sold the guns to him.  The blame lies solely with Belcher and no one else.  He acted out of anger, killing his girlfriend and then himself.  I’ll not try to speculate on the role of any concussion, but booze and pills surely did contribute.  So do we blame the liquor store?  The pharmacy?  The company who made the glass he drank from?  Not a chance.

What if he had used a knife to commit the murder/suicide, would Costas and whatever his name is be blaming the cutlery manufacturer?  The knife culture?  What if he’d run his girlfriend down with his car?  Would the car company or auto dealer be blamed?  What about this mad auto culture we have?  How dare so many of you aspire to own a car or an SUV!  Tyrants!  Silly, right?  And so is this idiotic act of trying to enact totalitarian degrees of gun control on our citizens.  Disarming the tens of millions of gun owners in America (who, by the way, killed no one this weekend) will do nothing to stop tragedies such as this one.

Jovan Belcher loaded the weapon, aimed it and pulled the trigger.  Is it tragic?  Absolutely, it is.  Should people rally around the family left behind?  Of course they should.  We’re human.  That’s how we deal with tragedy.  But Bobby Boy, if you wish to chastise someone, aim your vitriol at Belcher.  He and he alone bear's the responsibility for this horrific act of violence.  Grieve for the child who has now been left an orphan. Grieve for the family, but save us the liberal gun control rhetoric.   Stop avoiding the application of personal responsibility for ones actions all in the name of political correctness.  You are entitled to your opinion.  And I am entitled to strongly disagree with you.  Stay the hell out of my gun safe.  It’s none of your business.  My right and privilege to protect my family and myself will not be taken by any politician and most certainly not by the likes of you.  That’s the Second Amendment, in case you’ve forgotten.