Back in the old mailbag I dive, this time discovering a missive that uses the current assault weapon debate to cover a divisive message emphasizing xenophobia. Here’s the mail, annotated:
To those with an open mind and searching for the truth, here is some education for you.
Not really going to get into with anybody on this but for what its worth here is some education for you. At the top of this picture is an evil black rifle an XM-15e2. On the bottom is an M1 Carbine. Both can hold 30 round magazines. Both have the same rate of fire. Both are available to the civilian market. One was invented for war to defeat oppressive governments that were murdering millions of defenseless and unarmed citizens. Yes that would be the wooden one.
The M1 was manufactured in WW2 and millions were made. After the war many of our boys came home with their M1’s and even more were sold to the civilian markets by the CMP [ed. Canadian Mounted Police] for $20 dollars a piece. “My grandfather bought one.”
Since this was an illegal practice, at least for the Americans (this may be written for Canadians, but since it’s clearly aimed at the American conservative, I’ll write this from that angle), no, granddad did not buy one. He, or his supplier, stole it. A little searching will reveal that truth, such as here or here; I did not find a single site claiming the troops took their weapons home with them. As a matter of fact, the weapons are government-owned, and they didn’t permit former soldiers to retain them.
As I’ve noted in the past, there’s often a big lie at the center of these poisonous letters to the American conservative, and this is the big lie of this mail. Without this lie, the rest of the mail falls apart. Let’s take a look at the direction this fraud takes.
So yes evil assault rifles “your terminology not mine” have been around for decades. So here is the question. How did we have thousands upon thousands of men return home from some of the most horrific fighting the world has even seen, have access to the M1 and didn’t go around killing innocents? Access? Nope. You could go to Sears and buy an M1. You didn’t even have to be 18 to purchase one in the 50’s. To buy a handgun you have to be 21, that didn’t change until 1968.
As I just noted, this paragraph turns to dust. There were no weapons coming home from the war. As for buying them from Sears, that’s unclear after searching – asking the question of Google gets you lots of stuff. But I will note that the veterans of WW II and following conflicts had seen combat up close and personal, and dealt with the shattered bodies and minds of friends and enemies. I suspect that made violence less attractive, rather than moreso.
Well today’s guns have more firepower. Nope, also not true. Ammo cheaper? Hell no. Much, much cheaper in the 40’s and 50’s. So try if you will to take the gun out of the picture and put your focus elsewhere? What has changed?
How about we no longer have a society flooded with vets who could see what assault weapons could do? No?
Nuclear family under attack. God removed from school. Prayers forbidden. School administrators not allowed to punish kids anymore. Defeat is not allowed, everyone gets a trophy. Teasing is bullying. Girls should not be treated as girls and boys should not be treated as boys. When in doubt, administer drugs. Games where you kill people or cops you get points for. Movies that glorify violence. 15 minutes of fame given out on social media for stupidity.
And here’s the divisive message, designed to chip away at American solidarity. If you’re conservative, the nuclear family is almost certainly your family structure of choice; this is the sort of message designed to activate the xenophobic response. The hidden message? Terrible school massacres have only started since those terrible gay people came out and began marrying each other, those transgenders began having their operations, all the great parts of the good old days gone! If we could only go back!
Well, no. We’ve had violence in our society for centuries. Remember the Valentine’s Day Massacre? How about the Bath School Massacre, which was not guns but illustrates schools have never been safe from maniacs. Our history is punctuated with violence, from both explosives and guns. (And ask my sister the psychologist about the 1950s and women. They were not good.)
So welcome to another un-American bit of propaganda, trying to make us hate each other by blaming those who yearn for liberty and freedom for violence which is supposedly new. Do we need weapons of war in the hands of civilians? That’s the keen question here. Don’t let the author of a vicious, misleading lie color your thinking. You can do that yourself.
Have guns change? Yes, went from wood to black plastic. Has our society changed? What do you think? Ramble over.
Ah, and so offhand, isn’t he? But. We. Know. Better.
