Engaging in what could prove to be one of the most insufferable, thoughtless, insulting, and arrogant displays in which any politician will engage all year, leftist Arizona State Senator Lupe Contreras (D) on March 3 told a crowd, including a victim of sexual assault, who was testifying in favor of more freedom to conceal-carry of a firearm, that if she were worried about getting hurt outside, she should - get this - "Stay at home behind closed doors."
Lauren Snyder, a survivor of sexual assault and domestic abuse, was speaking in favor of SB2316, which would roll back some restrictions on concealed carry. And, since personal choices about defending oneself have to be decided not by us, but by political gluttons who stuff themselves on our rights, Snyder told the AZ Senate Judiciary Committee:
The reason that I got my concealed carry is because I’ve been a victim of sexual assault. I’ve been a victim of random assault. I’ve been a victim of domestic abuse, and I refuse to be a victim again. I don’t carry because I want to harm others. I carry because I don’t want to be harmed. My right to defend myself shouldn’t change simply because of my physical location.
That’s the point about natural rights. They aren’t granted by the state, they preexist the state, and in all public places human beings retain their rights. Only in private interaction, where people make offers and concessions if they prefer, might one ask another to temporarily not exercise or claim his or her right. Such an arrangement doesn’t mean the right goes away, it just means that two people have agreed to something, an agreement that, itself, if founded on mutual respect for rights.
But Contreras clearly hasn’t the faintest clue about this. Nor does he appear to grasp the sheer titanic scope of his indolent, callous, lack of sympathy.
His response?
I’ve said it many times that I’m a gun owner, I’m a hunter, and I’m a proud Democrat. I don’t need to carry my gun on me at all times to feel safe, I don’t. I don’t walk around, run around, and drive around worried about somebody’s going to shoot me, or somebody’s going to hurt me, or somebody’s going to do whatever. Why even walk around at that point? Stay at home behind closed doors.
Later he added,
So I mean, I do understand that, yeah, it is a right that we have. But some people - some people just don’t have that right. And some people just shouldn’t have that right. And with that, I vote no.
So, not only do we see yet another tiresome, blockheaded leftist fall back to the cliché idiocy of “I’m a hunter,” when the purpose the Second Amendment is to make sure politicians like him can’t stop people who want to be free from exercising their right to rebel against oppressive statism, and not only is Contreras nowhere near understanding that Natural Rights are about human-to-human relations, not for “hunting,” this man has the gall to minimize this woman’s horrific experiences AND call for her to let the trauma trap her in her home!
In a world full of politicians who spout insulting twaddle on a daily basis, even as they do worse by attacking our rights, this is one of the most angering statements and politicians to show his face.
One wonders what he would say to his publicly paid police when they leave the station, something like: Heck, guys, if you’re so worried about violence outside that you gotta carry a gun, why go out?
In case Senator Contreras is curious, there is evidence galore that more guns in the hands of peace-loving people serve to reduce the incidence of violent crime.
He might want to look at the FBI Uniform Crime Statistics revealing that, while gun ownership in America skyrocketed between 2002 and 2011, the incidence of violent crime (including gun-related crime/death, which often is comprised mostly by suicide and gang-related homicide) dropped by double-digits.
And he might ask why guns often are called “The Great Equalizer.”
That moniker fits because firearms allow physically weaker people to not only protect themselves when attacked, but to fend off potential attackers before the thug makes a move. If a citizen is likely to be armed, that possibility alone can deter would-be assailants from committing crimes that have direct contact with a potential victim.
But when weaker people have to wait to get their weapons of self-protection? They can become victims, like NJ resident Carole Browne, who, in 2017, was murdered by a man against whom she had a restraining order, while she suffered the “waiting period” to get her gun.
And, finally, there’s the fact that long-hidden CDC data were revealed a few years ago, showing that firearms are used more often to prevent crime than to engage in criminal activity.
But will Contreras consider this information?
He’s already had the opportunity. The scholarship and stats have been around for a long time, and he has avoided the truth thus far.
But the key is not the practical outcome, anyway. It’s the fundamental rock of rights. People have an inherent right to defend their lives, and Contreras has no place infringing that right.
Then again, this is the same state senator who argued during a February hearing on abortion that, "I have four foster kids at my house. They were kids from parents that probably should have, probably had an abortion."
Enough said about this sad imitation of a man.
Related: NY Gov. Cuomo Declares 'Disaster Emergency' To Attack Gun Rights | MRCTV