from
https://www.nraila.org/articles/20211018/the-view-doesnt-appreciate-a-right

(Because leftests like Joy Behar expect all women to follow
their directions, not make best choices for themselves!)

The View Doesn’t Appreciate a Right
MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2021 The View Doesn’t Appreciate a Right

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Women, and especially black women, are increasingly buying firearms for
self-defense. This reality did not sit well with the hosts of a somehow
still-running daytime talk show.

Readers are likely aware of, if not familiar with “The View.” Sherri
Shepherd is an actress and former co-host of “The View” who recently
returned for a guest spot. Self-professed “big gun control person” Joy
Behar set up a segment on the rise in gun ownership among black women,
queuing up Shepherd to reveal that she is among the large number of
black female new gun owners.

Shepherd shared with the audience that she, like millions of other
Americans, recently became a first-time gun buyer. Shepherd said:

“During the quarantine, I felt really helpless, Joy, and we’re talking
about depression, I felt [my son] Jeffrey would look at me like he was
so scared. I get these little alerts in my neighborhood app about
there’s going to be a march through the neighborhood and I started
feeling like, ‘how am I supposed to protect my son if something happens?'”

Shepherd took steps to lawfully acquire, be trained, and familiarize
herself with her firearm. She practices regularly. She did – and
presumably does – everything as prescribed.

That wasn’t enough for former federal prosecutor Sunny Hostin.

Hostin admitted that she knew many black women who had acquired firearms
recently but quickly pivoted to the supposed inherent risks of firearm
ownership. She claimed having a firearm in the home increases the risk
of homicide and suicide but offered no references. The research that
supports such claims is based on a flawed methodology to support a
predetermined outcome. We’ve covered some examples here and here.

Hostin claimed she knows “the statistics” and referenced going to crime
scenes as a federal prosecutor. Vaguely referencing advocacy masked as
research does not afford anyone special insight into firearm ownership,
nor does witnessing the aftermath of criminal actions.

After all, we know with certainty that criminals do not lawfully acquire
the firearms they use in crimes. Hostin was a former federal prosecutor
who won an award for prosecution of child sexual predators and child sex
abuse. Her experience at crime scenes is very unlikely to be relevant to
the lawful gun ownership exemplified by Sherri Shepherd – or a hundred
million other law-abiding American gun owners.

Hostin concluded her soap box sermon with “"I still believe that in this
country our readiness to sort of allow arms to be purchased at will and
fired at will has led to violence and hatred becoming a really popular
pastime.”

A former federal prosecutor should really know the difference between
criminal and lawful actions. A former federal prosecutor should also
know that federal law requires retailers to conduct a background check
before all firearms purchases, and that the background check requirement
as well as the prohibiting factors were codified in the 1968 Gun Control
Act.

But that’s the game, right? Try to drum up some in-group credibility by
claiming you or your friends own guns, and then blur the lines between
lawful gun ownership and criminal behavior. Just like the drivel
presented as “statistics,” this is a worn-out trope.

Shepherd tried to explain to her fellow panelists on “The View” and the
audience that she found arming herself to be empowering. It seems that
all Shepherd wants is a chance to keep her son and herself safe. “If
something happens, I can protect my child.”

That’s what the 2nd Amendment provides: a chance.

Sherri Shepherd is just one of hundreds of thousands of black women who
became first-time gun owners. The year 2020 may be over, but interest in
firearms has not passed. The National Shooting Sports Foundation
estimates that 3.2 million people purchased a firearm for the first time
in the first half of 2021. More than 90% of licensed firearms retailers
reported an increase in black female customers in this time frame –
along with sizeable increases in every other demographic group.

That’s in addition to the estimated 8.4 million new gun owners that
joined our community last year. Approximately 11.6 million new gun
owners in 18 months.

That’s a lot of people who, just like Sherri Shepherd, just want a
chance to protect their loved ones.

There is nothing irresponsible or unlawful about that.

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