Hoplophobia Makes It Hard To Have Public Fun with Guns
August 15, 2007

by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor

Mention guns to some people and they instantly become totally irrational. For many of these hoplophobes (a term coined by the late defensive pistol guru Jeff Cooper), mention of the National Rifle Association or “NRA” also sends them into incredible tantrums.

A few years ago, the NRA proposed opening a shooting sports-oriented restaurant in New York City, and many in that center of hoplophobia, went berserk. The Big Apple’s City Council even considered city ordinances to keep the NRA out. The restaurant project was quietly abandoned by the NRA, and, if memory serves, Rudy Giuliani was mayor at the time, not Michael Bloomberg.

I was reminded of that brouhaha recently when The Philadelphia Daily News reported that the hoplophobes had gone off the deep end again after the NRA offered discount tickets to children’s attractions for anyone donating to the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA).

Sesame Place
“Put the gun down, Elmo,” began the Daily News article on July 13.

The article’s author, Gloria Campisi, said that was the war cry of gun-control advocates who learned that an NRA website was offering discounted tickets to Sesame Place and other kid-friendly theme parks—in return for donations to the NRA’s political arm NRA-ILA.

“This is a very strange thing, the connection between guns, the NRA and Sesame Place,” said Bryan Miller, executive director of Ceasefire NJ. “It looks to me like a PR nightmare,” the newspaper quoted Miller.

The paper widely quoted Ashley Varner, an NRA spokesperson, as saying “There is no conflict of interest by having the theme-park tickets available.”

Varner said the tickets, which provide discounted entry to the parks, weren’t purchased by the NRA, anyway, but provided by Anheuser-Busch. According to The Daily News, besides making Budweiser and Bud Light, the beer magnate, through a subsidiary, operates Sesame Place in Langhorne, PA; Sea World in Orlando, San Antonio and San Diego; Busch Gardens and Adventure Island in Tampa Bay, and Busch Gardens and Water Country USA in Williamsburg, VA.

The newspaper claimed that according to the NRA-ILA website, the donation for two tickets is $50, about half of the regular price. The paper reported that other discount prices, according to the Web, are: four tickets for $100, six for $150 and eight for $200.

Anheuser-Busch responded to the newspaper’s call seeking information with the following statement: “We routinely offer these kinds of ticket discounts to national organizations whose members have an interest in visiting our parks.”

In fairness, the newspaper did give the NRA’s Varner some ink. And perhaps they ended up calling public attention to the NRA-ILA discount ticket fund-raiser. Who knows for sure? But certainly the article demonstrated the gun-grabbers’ illogical concerns about guns and the NRA in any connection with children. These are the same people who equate Eddie Eagle with Joe Camel.

Marginalizing Guns
They’ll say anything to marginalize guns of any kind: shotguns as well as handguns and rifles that shoot more than one shot.

The Daily News said “Varner strongly criticized gun-control advocates, taking special aim at big-city mayors, including John Street, the current chief executive in “the city of brotherly love” which is currently having big problems dealing with violent crime.

Among actions Varner suggested that cities undertake to curb gun crime are: budgeting more money for policing; prosecuting every gun crime; refusing plea-bargains, and insisting on mandatory sentences for gun crime.

“If they (mayors) were serious about lowering crime, they would stop pointing fingers of blame at the NRA and jet-setting the country on the taxpayers’ dime” to attend gun-control events, she said according to The Daily News. “There are things these mayors could do if they wanted.”

Varner maintained that the NRA was a “family-friendly organization.”

“We’ve actually trained over 20 million children since 1988 in firearms safety,” through an NRA program for kids from pre-kindergarten through third grade, called Eddie Eagle GunSafe, she said.

But mention of the NRA is not the only way to set the hoplophobic blood aboil. A Republican fund-raising in New Hampshire has also raised the anti-gunners blood pressures

Machinegun Fund-Raiser
Reuters news service reported in mid-July that a planned Republican fundraiser in the Granite State which “aims to promote gun ownership in America by letting supporters fire powerful military-style weapons—from Uzi submachineguns to M-16 rifles.” Emphasis on the word “powerful” is mine because I wanted to highlight the intentional slanting of the story by the Reuters correspondent. Submachineguns may offer firepower but not powerful cartridges since they fire sub-caliber pistol ammunition. That’s why the military in the US and other countries designated them submachineguns, or machine pistols, to differentiate them from truly powerful machineguns chambered for heavier military cartridges.

Anyway, according to Reuters, the Manchester Republican Committee is inviting party members and their families to a “Machine Gun Shoot” where, for $25, supporters can spend a day trying out automatic weapons, quoting organizer Jerry Thibodeau.

“It’s a fun day. It’s a family day,” said Thibodeau of the fund-raiser set for Sunday, Aug. 5, the day before this issue of Gun Week goes to press. “It’s quite exciting.”

According to Reuters, local Democrats say the event is in poor taste amid a spike in violent crime in Manchester and seeks to glorify the use of machineguns for political gain. “The right to own guns has come under heightened scrutiny since the April shooting at Virginia Tech where a gunman killed 32 people,” Reuters reported.

“It is downright offensive,” Chris Pappas, the Manchester Democratic party chairman, told the Union Leader newspaper.

Thibodeau said he invited all the Republican candidates in the 2008 presidential race to the event at Pelham Fish and Game Club outside of Manchester, the state’s largest city, but he said they declined. He said all shooters would undergo training.

Buying a gun in New Hampshire, whose official motto is “Live Free or Die,” is relatively easy.

The state does not require buyers to obtain a handgun license or undergo safety training before buying a handgun, according to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a gun-control lobby group.

What Reuters and the Brady Campaign failed to mention is that while New Hampshire, like many other states, does not require a license or training to acquire and possess a handgun, it does mandate a license to carry concealed. Further, anyone buying a firearm of any kind from a dealer must be approved for the purchase through the National Instant Check System (NICS), which isn’t always instant.

But that’s a separate discussion. What fascinated me about the GOP machinegun shoot fundraiser was how inexpensive it was. The large slate of candidate for the GOP nomination—announced and unannounced—may not recognize a bargain-priced opportunity to learn something about guns and gun people while having loads of fun.

Such a machinegun shoot can be costly. I know. The Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee organized one for people attending the 1988 Gun Rights Policy Conference in Dallas. That shoot included a BAR in .30-06 as well as a variety of subguns firing everything from .22 to .45 ammunition. I was amazed at the time to discover how many gunowners had never shot full autos, or, if they had, had not shot the older variety, like the BAR, Thompson and MP40.

Under federal law, full autos are not illegal for citizens to own as some journalists claim. They are prohibited in 11 states. The National Firearms Act (NFA) requires their registration and taxation with local approval in 39 states. The 1986 ban on transfer of new full auto froze the existing civilian inventory and sent prices skyrocketing. The rising cost of ammo has made their recreation use even more costly.

Frankly, anyone who missed the New Hampshire fund-raiser should be kicking themselves at missing a great opportunity.
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