Complacency Leads To Bad Decisions

This month our opinion column is a bit of a ramble, so apologies up front. If you want to read something about a particular topic—and get some good laughs while you’re at it—go ahead and turn to the next column and read “On The Back Page” by my other brother Daryl. Too late for many of you. I know lots of y’all start each issue of GON on the back page, which I highly recommended. 

I also know y’all don’t get this hunting and fishing magazine for our take on world news and events. But the world is currently on fire. And I noticed an exchange regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine that raised an eyebrow. Or two…   

Make note, there’s apparently a new distinction for guns that makes them OK, even among the most rabid anti-gun segments of Americans. 

Rifles, shotguns and even pistols are now OK. Of course, they’ve always been OK with the types of people who are in the GON community. But now guns are good even in the eyes of people who are normally anti-gun zealots, even the types who a month ago blamed guns for crime and preferred a fast-track of America to follow the Australian and New Zealand models of absolute gun confiscation.

The new distinction, the key, is that if guns are declared defensive weapons, they are now OK. This point was made by White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday, March 16 when she attempted, and struggled, to respond to a reporter’s question on how a wide array of weapons could be deemed defensive, which is how the White House is justifying sending weapons to Ukraine.

“Are you saying those items are not offensive weapons?” the reporter asked. 

“First of all, we are providing a range of rifles, etc.,” Psaki responded. “There is a difference between a plane and planes and massive military systems—I think anybody would recognize this—and what we’re talking about, which is giving rifles and pistols to… many of them farmers and people living in countrysides… to defend themselves. I think there’s a difference that most people recognize.”

So it’s now good for farmers and people living in countrysides to have rifles and pistols. Awesome. Make note. That’s us. 

Next time a lawmaker or bureaucrat in the United States tries to declare that you don’t need a particular type of rifle, pistol or shotgun, just remind them… It’s defensive. And let them know you’d rather just keep the guns you already have and save the government from having to spend a fortune during some dire crisis in the future rearming all the farmers and people living in the countrysides. 

Even with a daily barrage of news coverage, most Americans are still sleep-walking through their days, lulled by a false sense of security. Pressing concerns in this country lean more toward who is playing shortstop and batting cleanup on the travel ball team, and what so-and-so said about so-and-so on Facebook. 

There are now generations of Americans who have no sense of value on freedom and democracy. Our country’s security, combined with an easy, coddled lifestyle that’s common here, has led to a complacency. Complacency leads to decisions that aren’t based on the reality of the world around us.

Remember the famous presidential debate about 10 years ago where one candidate was roasted for saying Russia was our country’s greatest threat? The other candidate—and the media—lambasted and laughed at the thought. Remember the famous line that followed… “the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War’s been over for 20 years.”   

Complacency-led-decisions… 

As sportsmen, we have to guard against them when it comes to wildlife and fisheries management, and we have to guard against them when it comes to gun control. As Americans, we have to guard against complacency-led-decisions when it comes to freedom and democracy. It pays to know which side your bread is buttered on. We need to know who we can count on most. 

Let me end with a bit of good news. We locked down the dates and location for our Outdoor Blast at the LakePoint Champions Center in Emerson. 

Click here for more info. We hope to see you there.