NYT Columnist: Defending 2A Is Bad For Democracy Or Something

By Cam Edwards

Wil Wilkinson, a contributing writer to the New York Times opinion pages, believes that the “Come and Take It” response from gun owners to Beto O’Rourke’s “Hell yes we’re coming for your guns” is an affront to democracy, and he’s got a few things to say about it.

In my latest at @nytopinion, I argue that the truculent response to @BetoORourke‘s mandatory assault weapon buyback proposal betrays a disturbing hostility to democracy on the right. https://t.co/Hysuh3EVwP

— Will Wilkinson (@willwilkinson) September 18, 2019

Wilkinson argues that when gun owners talk about a “civil war” or violence if there is mass confiscation of firearms, that they are acting “seditiously”, and that their refusal to obey a legislatively approved gun ban would be an attack on democracy. It’s an argument that’s divorced from reality, and Wilkinson’s true objective seems to be to try to portray gun owners as dangerous people who don’t have any business owning guns in the first place.

Dogmatic claims about inviolable rights are implicitly claims about the conditions for legitimate political authority and the proper scope of democratic decision-making. But people disagree about rights, and there …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms