Guns, Hollywood and the Second Amendment

The New Yorker - Threshold - Chris Ware

Since the tragic December 14 school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, battle lines are being been drawn on possible new gun laws restricting Second Amendment rights. It's an emotional and constitutional issue no matter which side one takes. Surely some changes should be made, especially better background checks, but more gun laws by themselves won't change America's violent culture.

And you have to question the role and responsibility the media and Hollywood play in informing and inflaming public opinion and behavior. Much has been written about how both, in their zeal for ratings and revenue, sensationalize mass killings and murderers, real and fictional.

A local newspaper here in Westchester County, New York, claiming Freedom of Information rights, has published an online map of pistol permits under the headline: Map: Where are the gun permits in your neighborhood? A click on each red dot reveals the name and address of the legal owner. These aren't sexual predators mind you, they're decent, honest citizens with gun permits. Some are neighbors and friends.

Not surprisingly, the Journal News, a Gannett publication, got strong criticism for their actions. But instead of taking the map down, they doubled down and are seeking similar FOI rights to publish a second map of permit holders north of Westchester in Putnam County. Putnam County officials have refused to share the information. One Katonah retailer is suing for defamation.

Meanwhile, the newspaper invoked its Second Amendment rights and hired armed guards to protect employees at its offices.

Even more irony abounds in Hollywood. Earnest celebrities implore us in a new PSA to Demand a Plan to restrict gun rights. The commercial opens with actor Jamie Foxx, the star of the latest Quentin Tarantino revenge fantasy bloodfest, Django Unchained.  Last Saturday Foxx yucked it up as host of Saturday Night live, explaining that in the movie he "kills all the white people" with a gun. The SNL crowd roared with laughter.

Watch it and the rebuttal clip that follows (and apologies for the unneeded text insults at the end). That's right, enough, you can't have it both ways.