The gun control debate has been inflamed in the wake of the Orlando attack, but LGBT gun group Pink Pistols spokeswoman Nicki Stallard thinks some LGBTs have it all wrong.
Writing in The New York Times, Stallard makes some interesting points about why LGBT people should be in favor of the Second Amendment:
I’m not the only one who thinks the L.G.B.T. movement is making a mistake by lining up behind gun control measures. In the days since Orlando, Facebook membership in my pro-gun L.G.B.T. group, Pink Pistols, has quadrupled, from around 1,500 to more than 6,500, and new chapters are starting across the country. Gun stores are reporting a spike in sales to L.G.B.T. buyers, and gun trainers are reaching out, offering free training or discounts.
These are people who understand that if you’re gay or transgender, you can’t simply hope that laws will protect you. They won’t. And you can’t rely on the police. Orlando is proof you could bleed to death in the time it takes for them to stop the shooter.
She also wonders if more lives would’ve been saved if more people in Pulse nightclub were armed:
I used to have reservations about people carrying guns in bars. But 12 states allow concealed carry in bars, and I haven’t heard any reports of increased violence in those places. Now I can’t help wondering how many victims in Orlando might have been saved if a few people inside the nightclub had had concealed carry permits, and been able to fight back.
Apparently, sometimes even the mere presence of a gun can scare off potential bashers:
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Just last week, Tom G. Palmer, now a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, wrote in an op-ed article in The New York Daily News about an episode in his 20s when he flashed his pistol at a group of men who were threatening to kill him because he was gay — and they retreated.
This is definitely a timely – and sensitive – issue, and we’re intrigued by the different perspective Stallard brings. Read the entire piece here, and feel free to share your thoughts below.
We know you’ll have them.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
Yeah!! drunk people in clubs with weapons….what could possibly go wrong?
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
*Or drunk people with weapons in clubs even..(?)
Mo Bro
To the hysterics who believe that guns have a mind of their own and go around killing people, think about this:
Many people would be alive today had this woman been present in Pulse that night with her sidearm.
IDoNotHaveToAgreeWithYou
Stop associating these crossdressers with gays.
IDoNotHaveToAgreeWithYou
@Mo Bro: Forty Nine would be alive today if idiots didn’t allow military grade weapons on the streets.
Dave Downunder
Whenever I see articles about Americans defending their right to bare arms all I can think about is that they are the single most armed nation in the whole world and in the top 4 or 5 countries for gun related deaths and yet the gun nuts refuse to see the relationship between these two facts.
I guess it is a matter of it having gone to far and now people are afraid to give up their guns because they are afraid that the others guys won’t give up theirs and they will be at a disadvantage.
I don’t know if I would feel safe living in America at the moment and I’m very glad that we have the tough gun laws we have in Australia. I hope things improve for you guys over there.
Mo Bro
@IDoNotHaveToAgreeWithYou: By your logic, 2,996 people would be alive on 9/12/01 if “idiots didn’t allow” planes to fly. If it hadn’t been a gun, Mateen would have found some other method of destruction—they always do.
@Dave Downunder: It’s the right to BEAR arms, Einstein. It’s pretty obvious we all have a right to bare arms. And you’re right about one thing: If guns are outlawed, then only outlaws will have guns, which is why I’ll keep mine.
Dave Downunder
^^There’s that troll again.
Dave Downunder
@Mo Bro:
http://distractify.com/geek/2016/03/30/people-who-point-out-grammar-mistakes-jerks
IDoNotHaveToAgreeWithYou
@Mo Bro: By your excuse making no safety precautions would ever be taken on anything and that’s stupid. Also, It’s WELL REGULATED MILITIA.
joeyty
@Dave Downunder: You probably don’t have inner city gangstas in Australia. That’s the difference.
onthemark
“NRA officials said Sunday [June 19] that people shouldn’t be in nightclubs drinking and carrying firearms. ‘Of course no one thinks that people should go in a nightclub drinking and carrying firearms,’ the NRA’s chief lobbyist, Chris Cox, told ABC’s ‘This Week.’ ‘That defies common sense. It also defies the law.'”
Bob LaBlah
Check this approach out. It appeared the other day in the Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/for-years-he-tried-to-get-other-gay-people-to-the-gun-range-would-they-come-now/2016/06/21/0f672b02-3724-11e6-9ccd-d6005beac8b3_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_pinkpistols-925pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
Bob LaBlah
@Mo Bro:http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/22/opinion/the-lgbt-case-for-guns.html?_r=0
Kangol
OK, since LGBTIQ people of color are the main ones (80%) dying, let’s arm ourselves. With assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons.
Southern California Public Radio: “80% of LGBT people killed are minorities”
http://www.scpr.org/programs/take-two/2016/06/14/49669/80-percent-of-lgbt-people-killed-are-minorities/
And then let’s see how long everyone stands by and keeps advocating for even more guns flooding into the general circulation, easy access to assault rifles and semi-automatic weaponry, etc. This transwoman’s push is beyond absurd!
Kangol
@joeyty: Most mass murderers in the US are white. Australia doesn’t have them either.
Bob LaBlah
@Kangol: If you look closely (or at whats outside of your bubble) you would see the same thing that any business owner would see: opportunity. Were I a gun range owner I too would have found a few gay men and women to feature in my new ad aimed at them. In the state of Florida alone you are talking THOUSANDS of new customers. Its called capitalism and I support their decision and far sight of those owners. Rent, taxes and overhead have to be paid and without paying customers that business will close. It is not unusual for upwards of fifteen or twenty people being EMPLOYED at those ranges. Only a fool would pass up an opportunity such as this.
Down here it wouldn’t work because all we have to do is step out into the backyard put up the bottles, cans or whatever and let it loose. It is unfortunate that many of you live on the east coast or West Hollywood and have been brainwashed into believing we should be like Britain or Australia and banish our freedom. I am sure in the major cities of London and Sydney that ban flew over well with them. But what about the outback of Australia? You know, where the nearest constable is well over fifty miles or so away? How did THEY feel about that ban? As well as law abiding citizens in Britain’s rural areas? It (Britain) is the size of Texas. They DO have rural areas there where people hunt. Or at least used to.
Bob LaBlah
@joeyty: “You probably don’t have inner city gangstas in Australia. That’s the difference.”
Not only do I agree with you but I am so tempted to ask the person who noted that “80% of LGBT killed are minorities” if they are being killed by their same minority brethren. If that be the case it sounds as though what is needed is a massive reeducation in their communities in regards to just what a gun is and the penalties for simply pulling out a gun and shooting someone whom they happen to not like are.
When penalties/consequences are lax because of outcry from their communities about incarceration rates then it is time for them to figure out THEIR problem and understand that the problem created by THEM should/is NOT going to effect MY rights.
joeyty
@Kangol: You very well do have both spree killers (today called Rampage Killers) in Australia (the Tasmanian one is the best known), as well as serial killers. As far as spree killers in the U.S., the top two worst cases were not done by whites (Virginia Tech, and Pulse in Orlando). And the numbers of victims in the U.S. spree killings come nowhere near the numbers of victims of daily black-on-black gang violence.
joeyty
@Bob LaBlah: Thanks. There are just certain facts the politically-correct will bend over backwards to ignore to the extent that…it actually falls into the category of lying.
joeyty
@Bob LaBlah: “so tempted to ask the person who noted that “80% of LGBT killed are minorities” if they are being killed by their same minority brethren.” Of course they’re killed by other minorities. Almost all murders are between the same race.
cabe
@Mo Bro:
Ideally, the only ones who should have guns are police and military. There have been fairly recent cases here in Texas where pissed off drivers show their road rage by successfully taking pot shots at innocent drivers. THAT is one prime example why guns should not be given out to everyone. One woman got shot in the head on the freeway because she wasn’t moving fast enough for some idiot w/ a gun
Kangol
@joeyty: The worst mass murders in US history were committed by whites, going back to the Colonial era. Try as you might, you can’t erase that history. Own it!@ Bob LaBlah: Of course you did not read the link, so let me spell it out: not WHITE men but LGBTIQ people of color are the majority of those killed among LGBTIQ. But you go on with your homonationalism and gun fanaticism, and keep wondering why the white r@cists don’t fully embrace you. Hint: because you’re GAY.
Bob LaBlah
@Kangol: Please, lets call a truce. You are getting tired and you are under the impression that I am trying to embarrass you into submission, which is NOT my intention. I am merely showing another point of view.
Your last comment towards me was beneath you and I am sorry that you got that frustrated and felt the need to respond as you did without thinking. You answered my question as to whom it is that are killing those people whether you know it or not so please, just give it a rest, as will I. Ok? Love you still.
The worst mass killing in the U.S., if I am not mistaken, was against the Mormons back in the 1800’s right after the civil war. In one night well over one hundred were killed in a massacre. And yes, the killers were white, as were the victims. But there’s just one thing I found interesting you left out: the Mormons shot back at them. They lost because they were outnumbered. And not only were they armed then but they also shot back at Indians as they traveled west out to Utah. They were no saints then nor now, as they try their damnest these days trying to get people to believe they are.
Ashke113
Pissed off gays with guns………there’s a Lifetime movie waiting to happen.
Dave Downunder
@joeyty: You are right we do not have inner city gangsters but we do have suburban gangs and rivalry does occur resulting in the occasional drive by shooting where bullets are shot into a home. What we don’t have is mass shootings where somebody with an axe to grind has access to an assault rifle or semi-automatic weapon resulting in multiple deaths.
You did mention the Tasmanian incident commonly known as the Port Arthur massacre in April 1996 which resulted in 35 deaths. This was the last mass shooting we had and was the catalyst for our Firearms Act 1996 and Weapons Prohibition Act 1998. Yes there are gangs here who do possess fire arms but they do not go around having gun wars in public places. Thankfully they seem to confine themselves to shooting at each other.
As for other crime such as home invasion or convenience store robberies the weapons used in these instances tend to be knives and heavy blunt instruments. Very rarely do you hear of such a crime involving a gun. I still say get rid of the guns and you will significantly reduce the death rate. I know it is not as simple as that in the US because the problem has become so widespread that there will be no easy fix but surely something has to be done to help prevent it from getting any worse and perhaps even make it better.
Lastly, the biggest threat we do seem to face in Australia right now in relation to guns on the street is radicalised youth obtaining guns to be used in acts of terror in the name of the IS. Thankfully our authorities have been able to foil nearly all of these attacks and confiscate the guns etc. before the attacks could be carried out.
JessPH
Dear Gun Freaks, own and carry handguns as many as you want to protect yourself but there’s absolutely no way you can convince me that assault weapons like semi-automatic rifles are necessary to protect yourself. No way.
joeyty
@Dave Downunder: Thanks. For the info. and your own views.
joeyty
@Kangol: I do own it. I just thought we were talking about today and not Colonial times.