The New York Times reveals its anti-Second-Amendment bias once more

An editorial in today's New York Times set my teeth on edge. It reads as follows:

Packing Iron Before The Cameras

It is hard to know what is more shocking: the sight of a dozen Americans showing up to flaunt guns outside the venue for President Obama’s speech in Phoenix on Monday, or the fact that the swaggering display was completely legal. We are all familiar with the right to bear arms and the noisome extremes indulged by its zealots. But is there no sense of simple respect due the nation’s elected leader when he ventures forth among the citizenry?

One man strutted through the crowd with an AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle slung over his shoulder. (That weapon was banned in recent American history until a bipartisan retreat before gun-lobby propaganda.) The man also packed a holstered handgun and completed this war-games ensemble with an ammunition clip in his back pocket. Such lethal parading, he announced, was legal under Arizona law and the public should “get kind of conditioned to it.”

The local police and the Secret Service were aware of the armed protestors and noted that they were kept out of the guarded convention hall where Mr. Obama spoke. That is hardly reassuring, especially this summer when so many protestors seem to consider primal rage a reasoned political statement.

New Hampshire is another “open carry” state. When Mr. Obama held a town hall meeting in Portsmouth on Aug. 11, gun-packing protestors were also there. As the television cameras zoomed in, one man preened as if in the O.K. Corral, his holstered gun strapped proudly to his thigh. What’s next? Citizens strolling in helmets and camouflage flak jackets? If we didn’t know better, we would think that the National Rifle Association would be embarrassed by such macho nonsense.

The editorial is sickening in its condescension and insulting in its patronizing tone. It's also inaccurate (well, what else would you expect from the New York Times when it speaks about firearms?). The AR15 rifle was not and has never been banned. Certain cosmetic features of some models of the rifle were banned for ten years, from 1994 until 2004, but the rifle itself continued to be freely available for sale. Furthermore, there is no such thing as a 'semi-automatic assault rifle'. An assault rifle, by generally accepted definition, is capable of fully automatic fire, among its other attributes. Ergo, the AR15 rifle carried by the person in question may have resembled, but in fact was not, an assault rifle.

A friend, who wishes to remain anonymous, points out that if the New York Times were to use precisely and exactly the same language and tone towards any group of Americans other than gun owners, and about any other human and Constitutionally-guaranteed right other than the right to keep and bear arms, the protests would be deafening. He submitted the following example, re-writing the editorial to refer to the right of peaceable assembly rather than the right to keep and bear arms, and changing the race of the protagonists. With his permission, I'll publish his example in full.

Flaunting “Race Equality” Before the Cameras

It is hard to know what is more shocking: the sight of a dozen African-Americans showing up to flaunt themselves outside the venue for President David Duke's speech in Phoenix on Monday, or the fact that the swaggering display was completely legal. We are all familiar with the right to peaceably assemble and the noisome extremes indulged by its zealots. But is there no sense of simple respect due the nation's elected leader when he ventures forth among the citizenry?

One large buck strutted through the crowd accompanied by a white woman. (That man was farm equipment in recent American history until a bipartisan retreat before abolitionist propaganda.) The man also packed a copy of the Bill of Rights and completed this race-baiting ensemble by waving his voter registration card. Such incendiary parading, he announced, was legal under Arizona law and the public should "get kind of conditioned to it."

The local police and the Secret Service were aware of the black protestors and noted that they were kept out of the guarded convention hall where Mr. Duke spoke. That is hardly reassuring, especially this summer when so many protestors seem to consider primal rage a reasoned political statement.

New Hampshire is another state where blacks are allowed to exercise their First Amendment rights. When Mr. Duke held a town hall meeting in Portsmouth on Aug. 11, blacks were also there. As the television cameras zoomed in, one man preened as if in a Civil Rights march in Selma, Alabama circa 1963, carrying a sign saying “We Shall Overcome.” What's next? Blacks strolling in loincloths with a bone through their nose? If we didn't know better, we would think that the NAACP would be embarrassed by such macho nonsense.

It's an excellent parody of the New York Times editorial, and my friend makes an important point with it. Why should those of us who value our human and civil rights, which are upheld and guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, put up with such snide condescension and thinly-veiled contempt from the New York Times?

Perhaps it's time we spoke up rather more loudly when such bias becomes evident - and perhaps we all need to exercise our rights more often, publicly and openly. After all, as others have pointed out, rights are like muscles. Unless they're exercised, they atrophy.

Peter