Help stop gun violence
COMMENTARY
Josh Deitz

When is a blacklist not a blacklist?

When it belongs to the National Rifle Association.

The NRA blacklist was discovered a few weeks ago by anti-gun activists searching the NRA Web site for information. The group immediately made the list public (www.nrablacklist.com has the link) in an effort to support two gun control bills currently before Congress.

The list is amusing, if nothing else. Everyone in Hollywood, other than Charlton Heston, is on the list, from Julia Roberts and Jack Nicholson to Time Warner and ABC. The American Medical Association and the American Bar Association are on the list. Even the St. Louis Cardinals and Keyshawn Johnson make an appearance.

The real story started when celebrities like Dustin Hoffman started asking to be added to the list. Since then, more than 25,000 people have signed up to join the blacklist. That’s a small number compared to the membership of the NRA, but it is substantial for a Web site that is only a few weeks old.

Aren’t blacklists supposed to be threatening? Regardless of its political power, the NRA is better-armed than most nations. Gun supporters would push for the right to own nuclear weapons if they thought they could get away with it.

The gun industry is now trying to end the current ban on assault rifles, which needs to be renewed by Congress to stay in effect. The industry is also trying to prevent lawsuits against gun manufacturers and sellers, even if the companies illegally sell guns to criminals.

I don’t understand how so many people can be so willfully malicious. This goes beyond turning a blind eye to gun crime. Gun supporters seem to be trying to kill as many people as possible with the nation’s gun policy.

Millions of Americans have been killed or injured by guns. America has a higher rate of domestic gun violence than any other nation in the world. Guns are responsible for thousands of deaths a year in America. Other than Canada, no other industrialized nation sees more than fifty.

I am continually amazed by the attitudes that seemingly intelligent people have about guns. After seeing “Bowling for Columbine,” a friend of mine tried to convince me that guns were necessary to protect our rights from some mythical future oppressive government.

Where do these bizarre justifications for guns come from? There are no shadow governments waiting around to enslave America. Guns do not prevent crime. The right to bear arms does not extend to assault rifles.

The NRA blacklist proves that gun control is a mainstream idea. Americans are tired of watching the country bleed to death. The NRA’s obsession with weapons that are only good for killing human beings is responsible for too many deaths. Join the blacklist and help put an end to this menace.

Josh Deitz is a senior political science major from Atlanta, Ga.