Disciples of the Second Amendment have been snubbed. The world’s largest social network took defining steps in the arduous effort for reasonable gun control Saturday. Facebook announced it would be banning users from coordinating private, person-to-person sales of guns on its website as well as through Instagram, though licensed gun dealers and gun clubs will not be affected by the company’s action. (Phew! Thank you, Jesus.)
The decision is one that came from increased pressure by gun control advocates in the wake of a violent and gun-toting 2015. It also stemmed from President Barack Obama and state attorney generals looking for any medium outside of the gridlock of Congress to be progressive on the matter and actually get something done. It is also a bold step in the right direction for curbing gun violence and the illegal distribution of high-powered firearms.
Or, it represents a relentless assault on the constitutional right of citizens to bear arms. But only one of those two things actually rings true.
The grand, storied and ongoing incestuous relationship between Congress and the National Rifle Association has paved the way for the U.S. to become the first in the world in gun ownership and last in the spirit of compromise in regard to this “right.” They have successfully propagated to a vast majority of cowardly and insecure Americans a narrative that tells of a faction of cabal-like Federalism whose sole purpose is to take every gun from the hand of the patriotic American. Entertaining and captivating, but a fictitious narrative nonetheless.
Advocacy for sensible gun reform and regulation never meant the cessation of the government’s acknowledgement of the Bill of Rights. It does, however, mean a call for persons who have been placed on a no-fly list not to be able to purchase firearms. It also calls for common sense background checks that would prevent the sale of firearms to individuals with a history of mental illness. Why, then, when acknowledging the truth of the mission for gun reform, is there a massive faction of Americans who insist on comparing these attempts at compromise for safer and less gun-ridden cities to steps the Third Reich took in its brief, albeit brutal, conquest of Europe?
Speaking frankly, this portion of the American populace is a stupid and cowardly one. Stupid in being easily persuaded by the millions spent on campaigns and attack ads by the gun lobbies and cowardly in their clinging to firearms that compensate for their detachment from the reality of death. This applies equally from the Chief Keefs of Chicago to the Ammon Bundys of Idaho.
Facebook is acting for those who want to see just a smidgen of reform in the advent of a government that is subservient to those who will not allow any of it. On the micro scale, businesses in states that have plagued their people with a perverted interpretation of the Second Amendment are refusing to allow people to carry in their restaurants, as is their right.
The future of this fight seems to be in the hands of corporations that have a conscience. Now there’s a first.
Justin Ford is a UF journalism junior. His column appears on Tuesdays.
