Why We Don’t Negotiate With Anti-Gunners

And also, really, why we call them anti-gunners.  What’s being proposed in Massachusetts is an outrage:

If adopted, the regulations would prohibit machine guns at all public sporting club events, and require clubs to obtain special licenses, hire a police detail, and have one certified firearms safety instructor for every 20 people in attendance (or one for every five attendees if children are present) at all public events. The regulations would also require clubs to submit a safety plan to their local police department 30 days before each event.

I’m an officer at our local club, and I can tell you that if we had to do this every time we had a match open to the public, we wouldn’t open our matches up to the public. Public events and matches are a big part of what shooting clubs do, and this would effectively make them too costly to conduct. Over time, it would essentially destroy the shooting culture, and make the existence of clubs relatively pointless.

What happened was indeed a tragedy, and the people responsible for it are already being prosecuted under the laws that already exist. But instead of just accepting that, Governor Patrick has chosen to propose regulations that would effectively shut down the shooting club culture in Massachusetts. Why? Because you can’t let any good crisis, or tragedy in this case, go to waste.

You can’t negotiate with someone who’s end goal is to destroy your way of life.

UPDATE: More from Virginia Shooting Sports Association, who adds:

The Globe reports that the Ayer Gun and Sportsmen’s Club hosts an annual Military Demonstration Day featuring World War II machine guns. It may cease to exist, according to the club’s assistant range officer, Dan Damato. This event is held to honor veterans. Only one person is allowed to shoot the machine gun, while everyone else stands behind, Damato told the Globe. If Patrick’s machine gun ban takes effect the tradition will end.

Yes, the tradition will end, which is exactly the point.