Gun control shill Ryan Busse is at it again. Rules for thee, but none for me.
Busse’s latest lamentation is that America has too many guns and they should be regulated like cars. He made the comparison while a guest on the rarely-watched Ali Velshi’s MSNBC show. That’s the same Velshi who insanely tried to convince the American public that their eyes were lying to them in live footage of cities being burned and looted weren’t that at all.
“This, is uh, mostly a protest,” Velshi said as cities burned across the country in 2020. “It is not, generally speaking, unruly. But fires have been started.”
That same news host who told America not to believe what they witnessed with their own eyes live on television called on Busse, a Senior Advisor to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, to pontificate over a Georgia provocateur who carried several firearms – legally – on his person while grocery shopping.
This is where Busse exposed his jaw-dropping hypocrisy – several times over.
Too Much Freedom
“The tragedy isn’t what’s illegal, the tragedy here is what is legal. And as you note, this guy didn’t need six loaded guns, including an AR and a tactical shotgun to go grocery shopping, right,” Busse said.
Let’s start there. There’s room for debate of whether it’s a good idea to be blatantly provocative by carrying several firearms to shop for groceries. Most gun owners prefer that others never know about the guns they carry. That’s why there are at least 22 million concealed carry permit holders carrying firearms legally every day. That doesn’t include those who exercise their right to carry concealed in states that don’t require permits.
But Busse surrenders his arguments immediately by positing the debate as one of a matter of needs. The Second Amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms. That’s the end of the argument. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed as much not only in the Heller and McDonald decisions, but again in the Bruen decision.
“The constitutional right to bear arms in public for self-defense is not ‘a second-class right, subject to an entirely different body of rules than the other Bill of Rights guarantees,’” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the majority Bruen decision.
We know of no other constitutional right that an individual may exercise only after demonstrating to government officers some special need. That is not how the First Amendment works when it comes to unpopular speech or the free exercise of religion. It is not how the Sixth Amendment works when it comes to a defendant’s right to confront the witnesses against him. And it is not how the Second Amendment works when it comes to public carry for self-defense.
No one needs to hear Busse bloviate about gun control in the liberal MSNBC echo chamber, but he has a right to do so. In fact, it’s encouraged so everyone can know of his hypocrisy.
The Car Comparison
Busse doesn’t stop there, though. He goes on to compare an enumerated right to the government-licensed privilege of operating a motor vehicle on public roads.
“I mean, I think Americans really need to think about it this way,” Busse attemped to explain. “We have about 270 million registered vehicles in the United States, and you don’t have to travel on many of our roads to know it seems pretty crowded. We have a lot of traffic laws, right? We’ve got lines on the road, we’ve got bumpers, we’ve got speed limits, we’ve got police that are patrolling everything.”
Sure, there are thousands upon thousands of traffic laws. There are also thousands upon thousands of gun control laws on the books, including federal, state and local laws. That doesn’t account for the hundreds of rules promulgated by both federal and state governments to produce, sell and own a firearm.
The firearm industry is among the most heavily regulated industries in America. Busse casually ignores the fact that no one buying a car has to pass an FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check (NICS) check, as they do if they’re buying a firearm.
‘I’m Fine…Others – Not So Much’
“We’ve got 415 million guns in the United States and we have the NRA and the NSSF and an irresponsible slice of the American gun consumers, of which I’m not one of those, I’m a proud gun owner, I hunted yesterday with my boys,” he added. Busse liked the car comparison so much he threw every responsible gun owner and the industry under the bus.
This is a naked attempt to smear NSSF. That’s not new for Busse. Since he joined forces with the Giffords gun control group, he’s targeted the firearm industry trade association.
He says he’s not among the “slice” of irresponsible gun owners. He’s also not part of any solutions. NSSF campaigns on several firearm safety programs through Real Solutions. Safer Communities, which includes initiatives that have been recognized by the National Safety Council’s Green Cross Awards and the Government Accountability Office for their efficacy.
NSSF led the way improving background checks for gun purchases. Bipartisan legislation led by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the FIX NICS Act, was named for NSSF’s Fix NICS program that improves the FBI’s background check system. That bill had 78 Senate co-sponsors, including some of the most ardent gun control Democrats.
“But I’m not okay living in a country with 415 million guns where we’re reducing the amount of controls on ourself,” Busse continued. “That’s just insane. We wouldn’t roll back the laws on 270 million cars, right? You have more cars, you need more to control them so the people can stay safe. This is what we’re facing right now.”
If Busse sees gun ownership as a scourge on America, he should look no further than himself to blame. After all, the self-aggrandizing gun control mouthpiece, claimed in his book that he sold more .45-caliber 1911 handguns than John Browning – the gun’s inventor. That would have to be in the millions, especially considering the M1911 was the standard military-issue sidearm from 1911-1985. American troops carried this actual “weapon of war” in WWI, WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
Despite Busse’s boastful claims of being an “industry insider,” he’s been disavowed by his former employer Leslie Edleman, the CEO and Owner of Kimber USA.
It’s time for all gun owners to repudiate this narcissistic hypocrite. He claims to speak for responsible gun owners. Except his version of responsible gun ownership is to deny the ability of everyone else to own the firearms of their choice. As for his guns – he’s perfectly fine with them.
Mark Oliva is Director of Public Affairs for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearms and ammunition industries. He is a retired Marine Master Gunnery Sergeant with 25 years of service, including tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti, Albania, and Zaire.
