By Irene F. Starkehaus -
The website Campus Reform reported on July 6, 2016 that a professor at Southern State Community College in Ohio by the name of James Pearce had a stunning message posted on his Facebook page about the need for America to be a gun-free society. Quoting Professor Pearce's page:
"Look, there's only one solution. A bunch of us anti-gun types are going to have to arm ourselves, storm the NRA headquarters in Fairfax, VA, and make sure there are no survivors."
Pearce's page then went on to incite followers to coordinate such efforts with simultaneous attacks on Washington lobbyists who advocate for your Second Amendment rights:
"This action might also require coordinated hits at remote sites, like Washington lobbyists. Then and only then will we see some legislative action on assault weapons. Have a nice day."
College officials are investigating the situation but have been advised by the AG to take no action until their own investigation is complete.
And I happen to agree that caution should be exercised in this matter on Professor Pearce's behalf. Before any charges or disciplinary actions are mounted, we ought to be darned sure that Pearce wasn't hacked or otherwise set up. It's called due process, which is a constitutional right that ought not be denied the citizens of this country. Even the delusional ones.
Because that post – if authentic – was delusional and evil.
Start with the basics. Let's break the statement down into tiny digestible pieces, because – wow. Whoever did write this post said…just…a lot.
First – The post on James Pearce's Facebook page calls for anti-gun types "to arm ourselves." Direct quote.
Translation – They've never fired weapons.
Now for those of you readers out there who have fired weapons, please tell me something. Is firing a gun anything like what you see on TV? Is it easy? Is the gun light? Is it something you just do? Or do you have to practice a little so you don't shoot off your own foot?
Right.
It's intimidating. It's loud. And anyone who might instruct you on self-defense will tell you that if you find yourself in a high stress situation that requires action with a firearm, you will want to have had hundreds of hours of practice so you don't hesitate. It's not a game. It's survival. And guns aren't toys.
So whoever wrote that statement is losing his or her grasp on reality because he or she thinks that one can just buy a gun and storm the castle.
Second – The post on James Pearce's Facebook page calls for newly armed anti-gun pacifists to storm the NRA and "make sure there are no survivors." Again. That's a direct quote.
So Illinois Review readers – help me out. Is the NRA a gun-free zone? Is the building filled with people who have never fired weapons? Do you think that there's a lack of security because no one has ever threatened them before?
Exactly.
The NRA as an entity is filled with people who enjoy hunting, who use guns for sport, who are members of the military and law enforcement, who have guns for self-protection, who advocate for concealed carry rights, and who are all mightily concerned that their constitutional liberties will be eroded starting with the Second Amendment so that all the other liberties will simply brush away for lack of protection. This is the NRAs raison d'etre.
So what does the person who posted on James Pearce's page imagine might happen if he or she goes through with a violent incursion and assaults the NRA? What is going through that person's mind that might be construed as lucid, logical, rational thought?
Or is that person confusing reality with Matrix-styled CGI that is scripted, manipulated and always cuts to the scene where the film's protagonist vanquishes his foe and saves the world?
Whoever wrote that post should be under psychiatric evaluation for many reasons – not the least of which is his or her delusion of grandeur.
As a side note – this bizarre fantasy sequence on Professor Pearce's page is the precise example of why universities and colleges work so diligently to undermine philosophy, theology, Western Civilization and classic literature courses. Because when an 18-year-old skull full of mush is told by faculty members that he or she can go all Jason Bourne on the NRA, he or she will more likely believe them if his or her whole body of reference is Jason Bourne and last semester's Women's Studies course– and all of that festering narrow-mindedness builds delusion if there's no course in the curriculum that imparts critical thinking.
But I digress.
Third – this post on James Pearce's page states, "Then and only then will we see some legislative action on assault weapons." Again, a direct quote.
That is the statement that really says it all. That is the most violent and calculating of all the statements on Pearce's Facebook page and indicates – not so much a delusion as a sociopathy. It states an evil that lacks conscience.
That sentence represents a specified willingness to massacre one group of people to enslave another. That is a statement of fanatical fascism. The question then is whether that fanatical fascism is being instilled in our children by their professors or if this is just a one off declaration that never darkens the lecture hall. And ours is the question that is worthy of an immediate answer.
We have had an ongoing discussion on IR for many, many years that goes back well before I started writing here, and it goes something like this.
My ability to access my God-given, natural rights – which is what the Bill of Rights is – does not rely on your ability to control yourself.
Folks, you don't need a PhD in Gender Studies to understand this. When totalitarian behaviors get rewarded with totalitarian regulations imposed on law abiding citizens by totalitarian tyrants, then there is no incentive for totalitarians to behave themselves.
That is an immutable truth. That is why our Founders outlined the right to keep and bear arms in the first place. That is why the NRA advocates for Second Amendment rights.
The NRA advocates for those rights specifically because of the threats posted on James Pearce's Facebook page.
