Andrew Pollack: Stop Weaponizing Parkland to Advance Dangerous Political Agenda

On the first day of the confirmation hearings for Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, Parkland father and gun control advocate, Fred Guttenberg, made news for walking up to the judge to introduce himself and shake his hand only to have Kavanaugh turn and walk away with his security team.  Guttenberg's daughter Jamie was murdered during the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Guttenberg, many in the mainstream media, and others opposing Kavanaugh's confirmation have tried to use this to their advantage.  But as NPR noted, a video posted by NBC News does make it appear that "someone who appears to be a Hill staffer seemingly interceding in the interaction."

Guttenberg was an invited guest of California Senator Diane Feinstein.  He denies that this was part of the strategy concocted by the Democrats to disrupt the confirmation hearings. Andrew Pollack, whose daughter was one of the students killed at Parkland earlier this year, joined Dana Loesch on NRATV last night to demand that politicians and the media stop weaponizing Parkland to oppose Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

Not All Survivors of Parkland School Shooting Are Pushing Gun Control

Guy Benson has a great profile at Townhall.com of Kyle Kashuv, a survivor of the Parkland school shooting who is not getting the attention that some of his classmates:

On the afternoon of February 14, 2018, Kyle Kashuv found himself in the midst of a waking nightmare, huddled in a classroom closet for two harrowing hours, attempting to console and reassure terrified fellow students. An apparent fire drill had abruptly turned into a bloodbath after a gunman calculatingly lured potential victims into the halls of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School by pulling the fire alarm -- a ghoulish maneuver designed to maximize the bodycount. Teachers began following protocol by locking classroom doors after an active shooter alert was announced over the campus intercom system. Kashuv ended up piling into one room only after an instructor made a judgment call to unlock her door to accommodate a group of panicked students. The closet felt "like the safest place to be," he remembers. "I was trying to calm people down who were crying hysterically, letting everyone know that everything would be alright." Kids frantically checked their phones and social media feeds for emerging information as they remained holed up, waiting for a SWAT team's liberation. It finally came around 4:30pm. They had survived; seventeen others had not.

You haven't seen this young man on the legacy media though. You see, he supports the 2nd Amendment and doesn't believe the acts of one deranged individual should turn the Constitution upside down.  When asked by Benson why his views have not gotten the attention of media darling David Hogg, he said:

..."I don't know," he says, hesitantly. "Maybe because I don't use inflammatory language. I speak calmly and logically without much emotion. I don't necessarily make the very best headline." He's politely referring to some of his more "famous" peers' propensity to launch provocative and partisan attacks, such as repeated assertions that people who disagree with their political or policy preferences "don't care" about dead children, or have 'blood on their hands.' But Kashuv knows that the disparate treatment he's lived isn't merely attributable to stylistic differences; he's convinced that the substance of his views is what has diminished his appeal to many activists and journalists.

"I'm a very strong Second Amendment supporter and I will continue to be throughout this entire campaign." he tells me. "As of right now, my main goal is to meet with legislators and represent to them that there are big Second Amendment supporters in our community. Through this entire thing, my number one concern has been making sure that the rights of innocent Americans aren't infringed upon." He says that when he visited the state capitol to talk to lawmakers shortly after the tragedy, he consistently asked for guarantees that the constitutional rights of law-abiding gun owners wouldn't be attacked or abridged. He's waded into this debate "kind of reluctantly," he admits, observing that at some point he realized that he was one of the few conservatives in his school who were speaking up in public. "It's not even by my choosing, it's just come to that," he remarks. "I feel somewhat obligated to do this because the other half of America needs to be heard. I'm doing this because I have to."

He told Benson that he supports much of the "Never Again" cause, just not the gun control part, and feels "ostracized and ignored" by students and the adults  who disagree with his conservative politics. It's basically "you're with us or you're against us."   Read the entire profile.

Two Richmond Area Gun Stores Have Long Standing Policy to Not Sell AR Rifles to Buyers Under 18

I received an email from a VSSA member yesterday informing me that two local firearm retailers had a long standing policy of not selling AR style rifles to buyers under 21.  This was news to me so I did a quick search and sure enough I found this report from WRIC TV 8 where they decided to ask a couple of local gun stores their thoughts on the announcement by Dick's Sporting Goods to stop selling firearms to anyone under the age of 21, including shotguns and all rifles, in their stores.  It should be noted that Dick's only sold AR style rifles in their Field and Stream branded stores.  They haven't sold them in the main chain since the Sandy Hook school shooting.  Anyway, it turns out that Greentop, the retailer that sells more firearms than any other gun store in Virginia, and Bob Moate's Sport Shop in Chesterfield both have long standing policies of not selling AR style rifles to buyers under 21.  First David Hancock from Bob Moate's:

Hancock says they don’t sell any assault-style weapons to anyone under 21. He says it’s a policy they’ve had for years. Hancock says they believe there needs to be a maturity level to own something like an AR-15.

Hancock says while some of their younger customers haven’t done anything illegal with them, they’ve made questionable decisions.

“We’ve had people go out and handle them a little more recklessly than we’d like to see,” said Hancock.

Next up was CEO Blaine Altaffer of Greentop:

8News also reached out to Green Top Hunting and Fishing. While they declined to weigh in on Dick’s Sporting Goods’ decision, CEO Blaine Altaffer says his store will not sell assault-style rifles to anyone under 21. He says they have had that policy for decades.

I'm wondering how many other people knew that both Greentop and Bob Moate's had this policy.

Since Dick's made their announcement, other retailers also have made similar announcements including Walmart, which said they will not sell firearms or ammo to anyone under 21, and Kroger (I know, who knew Kroger sold guns - apparently they do in Fred Myer branded stores in western states).  L.L. Bean has also announced they would no longer sell guns and ammo to anyone under the age of 21.

Those pushing to end rifle sales to buyers under 21 cite the current ban on purchasing pistols to that age group.  But if the goal is to prevent mass shootings, it would appear they are aiming for the wrong age group.  The average age of those who have committed a mass murder with a firearm is 35.  But, this isn't really about preventing these incidents, it's about appearing to "do something" which never makes for good policy.