PBS gun poll backfires; stories from Sydney, Philly may explain why :: 12/17/2014

A PBS “Newshour” poll launched Sunday appears to be backfiring big time against the gun prohibition lobby – coincidentally on the heels of Saturday’s “I will not comply” rally in Olympia – and news reports from Australia and Pennsylvania this morning may just have some bearing on it all.

The poll asks readers if they would support more restrictions on guns on their states. As this was written, a whopping 95 percent-plus was saying “No.” Gun rights activists on various forums, including the popular Northwest Firearms forum, are already suggesting that this poll throws water on other surveys that show overwhelming support for additional gun laws, including so-called “universal background checks.”

Many of those Northwest Second Amendment activists attended Saturday’s event, and many more may show up this coming Saturday in Spokane for a follow-up protest against Initiative 594. That’s the 18-page gun control measure passed by a majority of less than half of the state’s registered voters. Just over 54 percent of the voters returned ballots last month, and the approximate 60 percent of those who passed the measure represent less than half of all voters in the state.

Those who didn’t vote last month let someone else do it for them. Those participating in the PBS poll, which is admittedly unscientific, at least are demonstrating a high degree of activism when only one click is involved, rather than about three minutes to fill out a ballot and stick it in the mailbox.

But the PBS poll results may reflect an attitude that runs deeper and skirts voter apathy. In Sydney, Australia, authorities are cleaning up and still investigating the hostage crisis at a café in which a self-styled “sheik” identified as Man Haron Monis, was the alleged gunman.

Meanwhile, reports are surfacing in the Pennsylvania manhunt for an alleged mass killer who may have tried to pull a carjacking at knifepoint Monday night in Doylestown township, but something went wrong. The carjacker’s intended victim, according to published reports, was armed, drew a gun and opened fire. The bad guy fled, and subsequent reports suggest the incident may be connected to the manhunt, but authorities are not 100 percent certain.

None of the Sydney victims was armed but that nation's restrictive gun laws did not stop the bad guy from having one. It remains to be seen whether officials there call for more gun control measures in reaction, penalizing lawful gun owners for the crime of an apparent terrorist. The would-be carjacker in Pennsylvania brought a knife to what turned out to be a gunfight, and he’s still on foot while an armed citizen still has a car.

This difference in outcomes is not lost on Second Amendment advocates, and especially those who are concealed or open carry activists. The campaign by gun prohibitionists to bully and browbeat private businesses to bar firearms from their premises in this country may get a second look, and some reconsideration, after Sydney. The Lindt Chocolat Café in Sydney’s Martin Place could just as easily be a Starbucks in Seattle or Baltimore. All it takes is a fanatic, and a little sign on the door that says guns are not allowed.

Like it or not, when the chips are down and lives are at stake, an armed citizen can be the "first responder." People who don’t like guns invariably rely on people who have guns when their lives are in danger. Heavily-armed police responded to Monday's standoff and the Sydney hostage-taker died in a hail of gunfire from – as the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre would call them – “good guys with guns.” Unfortunately, two hostages are also reported dead, including one with links to Washington State University in Pullman.

People responding to the PBS poll are telling the news agency, and the nation, that this country does not need any more gun control laws, especially ones that might leave them like sitting ducks in a "gun free zone" where terrorists and loons don't bother to read signs. Those activists who showed up in Olympia, and at the Washington Arms Collectors gun show in Puyallup over the weekend – and who will turn out this Saturday in Spokane – are telling Evergreen State lawmakers that Washington doesn’t need the new gun control law passed last month that criminalizes common behavior.

Elections have consequences. One possibly unintended consequence of last month’s election was that it apparently woke up a lot of previously complacent people. Billionaires and left-tilting anti-gunners prevailed Nov. 4, but current events and common sense just might come back swinging and carry the day.

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