If you’re living in the DC area, this might be a good excuse to get out of the house and join a crowd of pro-gun patriots:
Timed to coincide with Bill of Rights Day, and coming a day after the first anniversary of the Newtown shootings: it’s “Guns Save Lives Day,” organized by one Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation. He has made some major national broadcast advertising buys — “hundreds of thousands of dollars” worth, he says — to promote this newly designated day, and its very specific aim.
“Our message points out that guns do save lives, and that it is not in the interest of public safety to create so-called gun-free zones where people are defenseless against violent criminal attack,” Mr. Gottlieb says.
“While others will exploit national tragedies to push an agenda of victim disarmament, we have a different message that the public has a right to hear,” he continues. “The proper use of firearms in emergency situations can make a difference to the safety of would-be victims, whether they are night-shift grocery clerks, single moms, senior citizens or small business owners.”
The group has the enthusiastic backing of 30 local and regional gun rights groups; the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility is among the groups protesting the idea. See the information here: GunsSaveLivesDay.com. Currently, 50 percent of Americans oppose stricter gun control laws, 49 percent favor them, according to a new CNN poll. And the inevitable partisan divide: 65 percent of Republicans oppose stricter gun laws, 71 percent of Democrats support them.