by David LaPell

USA – -(Ammoland.com)- Another school shooting, this time in the state of Florida leaving seventeen dead and despite the overwhelming number of warning signs that were missed by so many Government agencies.

The immediate blame game started before the crime scene tape had even been hung up, with the usual actors demanding gun control, faulting the NRA and the AR-15 rifles in the hands of innocent gun owners nationwide.

While that is not to be unexpected, what is more concerning was how many so-called conservatives and those on the right who were quick to cave in. All in a rush to sell out their fellow gun owners and Americans just to be on the correct side of the hysteria.

Max Boot, in his column in the Washington Post recently, postulated that the Second Amendment is turning into a suicide pact for those who support and defend it. Boot states that we should “rethink” the Second Amendment because 18th-century firearms are supposedly less lethal than those made today.

I assure you Mr. Boot, soldiers who were shot with a .75 caliber lead round ball from a Brown Bess musket weighing over 500 grains found them to be quite lethal. One thing I loathe is those using modern means of the First Amendment, to tell us how antiquated the Second Amendment is. I expect you to be fair Mr. Boot and start writing with a quill pen and to have your editorial printed out perhaps on a colonial era printing press.

However, Max Boot was not alone in his criticism. So-called and self-proclaimed conservative Bill O’Reilly, who has on more than one occasion turned his anger on the NRA, and gun owners once again proved he knows little of the Second Amendment and the rights our Founding Fathers were so eager to protect, which is ironic given the books O’Reilly has published on those great Americans. On his February 15, 2018, podcast, O’Reilly stated that no one should be able to buy a gun until they reach the age of 21.

So then I assume Mr. O’Reilly, you will be demanding that no American can join the military or be drafted until the same age? So if some young adult who has been responsible, and taken the state required hunter safety course, and proven him or herself mature enough, you’re saying that they have to wait until they are 21 to buy a gun? Again, many will be punished in a rush to judgement without thinking about the consequences of who will be harmed and whose rights will be violated.

Another thought that Bill O’Reilly made public was that there should be a list, much like the federal “No Fly” list, for anyone who is deemed a threat. That person will not be able to buy a firearm. This, like the “No Fly” list, will be problematic, as many people with similar names and birthdates to those on that list, including young children, were denied permission to fly. Of course, O’Reilly says that those on that list can appeal their status, but if you ask anyone who has ever dealt with the court system of any kind in this country, and you could have innocent people waiting years to exercise a right that being a citizen of America is supposed to afford them.

One of the most disturbing comments O’Reilly made about the list of prevented gun purchasers was that “You don't have to be charged and convicted. You go on a watch list and you can appeal it.”

So without any due process of any kind, your right to buy a firearm could be gone for years or perhaps forever depending on how long it takes for the wheels of bureaucracy to move.

Republicans are also being pressured by financial donors as well. One longtime contributor and former ambassador to Portugal Al Hoffman Jr. who has donated millions to the GOP over the years is now pledging to withhold money unless gun control legislation is passed.

Hoffman stated in an email that went out to many Republicans that “I will not write another check unless they all support a ban on assault weapons. Enough is enough!”

I would hope those who have taken money from Mr. Hoffman in the past would reconsider doing so in the future, and that they value the rights of their constituents as they are supposed to, and not one man who apparently thinks his checkbook is more critical than they are.

Keep in mind; these are comments coming from those who have at one time called themselves conservatives.

The left, of course, is not willing to show gun owners any mercy of any kind. While the politicians tout what they call “common sense gun laws,” the media has thrown off the veil of impartiality. NBC’s Chuck Todd this past Sunday promoted repealing the Second Amendment, stating that “Isn’t the difficulty here legislatively, the Constitution” when Todd parroted the sentiments of Bret Stephens from the New York Times, who earlier had also made the same point.

Yes Mr. Todd, you and other liberals have always had a problem with the Constitution, or at least the parts of it you don’t like. I am willing to bet if any legislator tried to turn back or restrict the precious First Amendment, you would be screaming from the very roof top.

Bret Stephens, for his part, has demanded that the Second Amendment be repealed before, and as before he brings out the tried and true, and factually bankrupt talking points of how gun laws prevent crime, despite all evidence in cities like Chicago pointing to the contrary. But there’s one statement the author makes that is truly disturbing and should be a beacon to all gun owners, no matter what kind of firearm you own.

Stephens states that “We need to repeal the Second Amendment because most gun-control legislation is ineffective when most Americans have a guaranteed constitutional right to purchase deadly weaponry in nearly unlimited quantities.”

Every gun owner should tremble at those words and then reread them and let them sink in. What Stephens is admitting is that gun control legislation isn’t effective but that the end goal is to strip gun owners of their very rights once and for all.

There is no compromise, and gun owners better get with the program on this.

What happened in Florida this past week is not just tragic, it’s infuriating. There were not just red flags missed here, but flashing neon signs pointing straight to the shooter, who I refuse to mention by name as to give him one more second of notoriety. It’s infuriating because those who stand and lecture the masses with phrases like “See something, say something” in the end, did nothing. Instead, seventeen people were killed because the system failed, and that’s the same system that those demanding new gun laws want you and me to put our faith into for our protection.

Make no mistake that as gun owners, whether you own an AR-15 or a Kentucky Rifle, we are all in this fight together, because the left will not stop until they are all gone, yours, mine, your kids, and your grand-kids and their kids down the line. What we hear from the left should be a warning that if the Democrats ever take back Congress and the White House we can expect a string of gun laws that we have never envisioned and a full-on assault on the Second Amendment.

This is a war, and it’s for the very soul of this country, and it will only be won by making sure that we keep those out of power who have no problem caving into hysteria or vowing to take away our rights by voting accordingly.

About David LaPell

David LaPell has been a Corrections Officer with the local Sheriff's Department for thirteen years. A collector of antique and vintage firearms for over twenty years and an avid hunter. David has been writing articles about firearms, hunting and western history for ten years. In addition to having a passion for vintage guns, he is also a fan of old trucks and has written articles on those as well.