One thing we know even now, just hours after the tragic shooting took place, is that the gunman did not adhere to the Conduct Policy. He ignored the gun ban, he ignored the bans on violence, intimidation, and physically threatening behavior, and he ignored the rules against “unlawful conduct.”
The second thing I do, after praying for the victims of a shooting, is look to see one thing: was it in a gun-free zone. The shootings in Aurora, CO, Newtown, CT, Charleston, SC, and Chattanooga, TN were all in gun-free zones. Each of these states have concealed carry laws, but either allow businesses to declare their property gun-free or declare specific types of properties gun-free (usually churches, schools, etc.)
Aurora’s Century theatre declared themselves a gun-free. There were theatres nearby that were not. James Holmes chose the theatre that he could inflict the most amount of damage.
Connecticut declares schools to be gun-free, preventing teachers from defending their students with anything but their bodies.
South Carolina declares churches to be gun-free. Instead of going anywhere else in Charleston where there were plenty of blacks, Dylann Roof targetted a church where he could inflict the most amount of damage.
Yeah, Jack Moore, it’s funny that law-abiding citizens see a sign as they enter a privately-owned property and decide to obey it, under penalty of the law, and leave their protection in the car, while the shooter walks right past that sign that clearly said no guns allowed and opened fire on people that were unable to protect themselves. Hilariously funny. Wait. No. That isn’t funny at all.
So what have we learned today? If you want to shoot a bunch of people before offing yourself, find a gun-free zone and take full advantage of those that cannot defend themselves.
Yup, they forced one of their own to apologize for stretching out a hand to those they oppose, looking for middle ground and dialogue.
Ian Reisner, a hotelier whose properties have been subject to boycott calls since news of the meeting broke, wrote on Facebook that he made "a terrible mistake" by agreeing to host Cruz, who is adamantly opposed to gay marriage.
MSNBC makes it look like Reisner had a change of heart. But to quote the article from Bloomberg:
"Hundreds of people are contacting us to organize and help," said the organizer via email. "We will be meeting with a number of local gay rights organizations in the next few days to see how we want to collectively approach this unfortunate situation. We are a very powerful community -- as evidenced by what just occurred in Indiana and last year in Arizona. The thought of one dollar spent at their bars and hotels making its way into the campaign coffers of anti-LGBT elected officials is outrageous. If we have to shut the place down to prevent that from happening, we will."
Shut them down. These threats from the Left are becoming the norm for Christian business owners. But to leveled against a gay business owner, from what I can tell, is a new low. With non-stop threats over the weekend, it makes sense that Reisner would have a change of heart. Lose his business to stand with someone that disagrees? No brainer. No. Brainer.
"If these cultural Marxists won't even tolerate leaders in their own community like Reisner having a peaceful dialogue with the other side, then it's not a movement but an inquisition."
Dialogue. It used to be that we could reach across the aisle and talk with our opponents. Ask them questions. Seek to understand them. And now? Now anyone that disagrees with the Left needs to be silenced. No matter if they are the CEO of Mozilla or the owner of a mom & pop pizzaria. We have a problem.
"I'm not sure where their intolerance leads," said Cruz campaign spokesman Rick Tyler. "Are they going to boycott TV networks and their advertisers that interview Ted Cruz? Book stores that sell his books? How about the hotels that host his events. Where does it end?"
What does Cruz support on the matter of marriage? That it should be decided on a state-by-state level. That is constitutional, after all. If the Constitution doesn’t specifically give the federal government power over something, that something is then in the power of the state governments. Cruz believes that the Supreme Court throwing out state laws that back DOMA is unconstitutional. It is. Because the federal government doesn’t have power over marriage.
So the Left is trying to shut Cruz up. And because the gay men that own this hotel that Cruz had a fireside chat at were willing to open dialogue with him, they need to be shut down, their business ruined.
Instead of a clear set of rules moving forward, with a broad set of agreement behind them, we once again face the uncertainty of litigation, and the very real potential of having to start over – again – in the future. Partisan decisions taken on 3-2 votes can be undone on similarly partisan 3-2 votes only two years hence. And FCC decisions made without clear authorization by Congress (and who can honestly argue Congress intended this?) can be undone quickly by Congress or the courts. This may suit partisans who lust for issues of political division, but it isn’t healthy for the Internet ecosystem, for the economy, or for our political system. And, followed to its logical conclusion, this will do long-term damage to the FCC as well.
As a Republican, the thing I hate the most is the random jabs of being a racist. Because I’m a Republican. And the media has done such a good job telling that story. Republicans are racists. Here’s a good video that analyses some of this.