Not One More Inch

Derek Hunter at Townhall.com has an article today entitled Do Not Give an Inch on the Second Amendment that explains how "compromising" with the Left works. Of course, Mr. Hunter tactfully uses the word "liberal" for "Leftist" because, heaven knows, we don't want to call a communist a communist. They might get mad.  As Hunter explains, compromising with the Left essentially means we give up, and they take.  Then they move the goal posts and come back for more. 

Hunter uses the compromises that slowly happened in the campaign to end smoking.  We used to allow smoking in restaurants, and smokers lit up after dinner.  Nothing like a good pipe with your after dinner coffee.  Here's the thing, though: no body could defend smoking as somehow a good thing.  It does indeed destroy the body.  Smoking tobacco is also very addicting.  more so, I am told, than alcohol.  Now, I was a pipe smoker, and no adult likes being told what to do by other busy body adults.  You can understand if the person at the next table has a problem with you smoking, and out of politeness one is likely to put it out until later.  But the entire second hand smoke idea has never really been proven.

Hunter raises the NRA as a no compromise on gun rights organization.  I wish that were so.  In fact, many of the gun regulations on the books were written by the NRA in hopes of getting a better deal than the Leftists were offering.  The NRA has slowly ceded gun rights which started out as "shall not be infringed" very much like the slow loss of the rights of smokers.  But smoking is not a Constitutionally protected right, whereas the right to bear arms is.  Therefore, the NRA had no right to cede them for their members and anyone else who might want to exercise their rights.

All that being said, Hunter is fundamentally correct:

There is no compromise with someone who doesn’t want you to exist, there is only incrementally losing ground until you no longer exist. A right diminished will never return, government does not cede back power once seized.

The NRA is right to hold its ground, it’s why the organization exists in the first place. Liberals are not honest brokers when it comes to the issue of guns, and neither is the media. Trying to appease leftists never works because nothing short of everything they want is ever enough for them.

I have had my share of disagreements with the NRA over the years.  Particularly at the State level, it is doubtful we would have gotten concealed carry through had we been led by the NRA.  The NRA does a lot of good work, but it is still at heart an organization that sees hunting, collecting, and conservation as its main goals.  Most of the gun clubs in this area that are NRA associated or sanctioned are private affairs for the wealthier members of society, much as golf clubs are.  Still, the training they do is invaluable, and now that they have Carry Guard insurance, they are including more tactical training as well.

Right now, the NRA is under attack, and the Left wants to see it go away, believing that it is the ring leader of the resistance to its cherished goal of gun confiscation.  It is not going away, but in truth, the Lefts best friend is often the NRA.  Without it, the vacuum would be filled by an organization like the Gun Owners of America, which group is truly no compromise.  The Left should be careful for what it wishes.