Reacting to a string of shootings that occurred during a 24-hour period in Seattle this week, Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole – who came from Boston – evidently lit a lot of fuses when she remarked, “We are outraged by the gun violence, and neither our department nor our community will tolerate it.”
Ironically, minutes later in another part of the city, a 43-year-old man was stabbed in the neck. So far, not a word from the chief about “knife violence.”
The term “gun violence” was manufactured by the gun prohibition lobby some years ago to specifically demonize firearms. There is no specific crime of “gun violence,” yet even the self-anointed “mainstream media” regularly uses the term when reporting on violent crime.
Many Seattle Times readers have been weighing in on Chief O’Toole’s remark, and they are not engaging in flattery.
Her comment raises an interesting question. Wednesday in Arlington, Texas, a man opened fire in a sports bar, killing one of the employees. A legally-armed customer drew his own handgun and killed the bad guy, stopping what some have suggested might have become a mass shooting.
Would O’Toole call that “gun violence” or lawful self-defense?
The dead killer was identified as James Jones, 48, and according to WFAA, he was carrying a second handgun and a couple of knives. He also did not have a concealed handgun license, the story said.
The Dallas Morning News quoted Arlington Police spokesman Christopher Cook stating, “We’re treating the good guy as sort of a hero.”
The unidentified armed citizen, who was dining in the bar with his wife, will not face charges, according to published reports. Cook said authorities believe Jones “had the capacity to do much greater harm.” The armed citizen “prevented further loss of life,” Cook said.
Meanwhile, back in Seattle, some readers are noting that Initiative 594, the so-called “universal background check” measure passed in 2014 following a multi-million-dollar campaign financed largely by wealthy Seattle-area elitists and anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg, didn’t prevent any of these crimes. Neither did Seattle’s so-called “gun violence tax,” which didn’t produce anywhere near the predicted revenue, and is being challenged in court by the Second Amendment Foundation, National Rifle Association and National Shooting Sports Foundation.
The proverbial bottom line in Seattle is that gun control hasn’t worked, but this will never be acknowledged by the anti-gun city leaders who have adopted the rhetoric of the gun prohibition lobby as a substitute for candor.
Related:
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