OPINION:
Sen. Joe Biden is the embodiment of snide. Snide is the embodiment of the left-wing attitude toward gun owners. So when snide Joe Biden confronted a YouTube user who asked Democrat presidential candidates about gun control during a debate Monday night, what unfolded was a Teachable YouTube Moment — the caught-on-tape embodiment of ideological snideness toward the Second Amendment and those who defend it.
“Good evening, America. My name is Jered Townsend from Clio, Mich.,” a YouTube citizen questioner began. “To all the candidates, tell me your position on gun control, as myself and other Americans really want to know if our babies are safe.” Mr. Townsend pulled out his Bushmaster AR-15. “This is my ’baby,’ purchased under the 1994 gun ban. Please tell me your views. Thank you.”
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson was asked to respond first. CNN host Anderson Cooper noted that Mr. Richardson has “one of the highest NRA ratings.” Mr. Richardson ran so fast from his record, you could see the Road Runner puff of cartoon smoke billowing at the base of his podium. “The issue here, I believe, is instant background checks,” he sputtered. “Nobody who has a criminal background or is mentally ill should be able to get a weapon.”
Mr. Richardson babbled for a few more painful seconds about “attacking poverty, bringing people together, dealing with those kids in the ghettos that are heavy users of gun violence,” while the liberals in the audience sat stone-cold silent. Not a peep from Mr. Richardson about the fundamental right to self-defense, of course.
Mr. Cooper rescued Mr. Richardson by turning to The Smirk from Delaware. “Sen. Biden, are you going to be able to keep his ’baby’ safe?” Snide Joe grabbed his opening: “I’ll tell you what, if that is his baby, he needs help.”
Mr. Biden threw red meat to the blue audience. He was richly rewarded with loud applause. Mr. Biden showed off his lawyerly credentials and continued to wallop the YouTube gun owner: “I think he just made an admission against self-interest. I don’t know that he is mentally qualified to own that gun.” Why? Because he showed affection for his possession? Because he’s an enthusiastic hobbyist? Because he talked about his gun the way Paris Hilton talks about her Chihuahua or Brad Pitt talks about his Ducati or Al Gore talks about his Priuses and compact fluorescent light bulbs?
The audience roared with laughter at that mockery of the gun owner’s mental health. So much for politically correct sensitivity toward the mentally ill, eh? “I’m being serious,” Mr. Biden chuckled. “Look, we should be working with law enforcement, right now, to make sure that we protect people against people who don’t — are not capable of knowing what to do with a gun because they’re either mentally imbalanced and/or because they have a criminal record, and….”
Mr. Cooper interrupted Mr. Biden’s rant, but he stuck in one more jibe at Jered Townsend, the YouTube gun owner. “I hope he doesn’t come looking for me.” More laughter.
Did any of the other candidates pipe up to defend the gun owner? Not one. Mr. Biden’s snark and smarm spoke for them. The Democrats remain the party of gun-grabbers. Its leading presidential candidates view gun owners as crackpots and nutballs, and treat the Second Amendment as a nuisance to be circumvented and cured. Big Nanny, not bedrock constitutional principle, rules.
The Democrats are shooting themselves in the foot by taking arrogant potshots at gun owners in a nationally televised debate. A recent Gallup Poll showed roughly 1 in 3 Americans in the Midwest and South own a gun; 27 percent of independents and 23 percent of Democrats identify themselves as gun owners. A majority use their weapons for crime prevention. Who in the Democratic Party speaks for them? Are the majority of women gun owners who own a gun for self-defense “mentally imbalanced,” too?
The Dems can enjoy Mr. Biden’s YouTube-able wisecracking now. But come general election time, Second Amendment defenders may get the last laugh.
Michelle Malkin is a nationally syndicated columnist and author of “Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild.”
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