In the Name of the Gun Manufacturer, the NRA and Congress

Mass shootings throughout the United States have not compelled Congress into enacting gun control regulations restricting sales of assault rifle with high capacity magazines.  In a contest between the NRA and Congress the NRA always wins.  The National Rifle Association (NRA) suffocates Congress by threatening legislators with potential primary challengers consequently cowering representatives into submission resulting in gun control measures croaking in congressional committees. 

After the Paris terrorist attack, the media and public refocused their attention on Islamic terrorist organizations such as ISIL and Al Qaeda renewing concern about jihadists living in the United States legally obtaining assault rifles.     

Earlier this year, Congress proposed S. 551 and H.R. 1076 Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists (Are there any terrorists who are not dangerous?) Act of 2015.  The bill, sponsored by Senator Diane Feinstein (D-Ca) and Representative Peter King (R-NY-2), restricts the sale of firearms and explosives to individuals on the FBI’s terrorist watch list.[i]

Predictably, the NRA is opposed to restricting the sale of weapons and explosives to terrorists.  After the Oklahoma City terrorist attack, the Clinton Administration proposed adding taggants[ii] to explosive materials as a tracking mechanism, but the NRA opposed the measure because gun restrictions prevent law abiding citizens from obtaining firearms, doesn’t stop terrorists from obtaining weapons and explosives, and the FBI’s terrorist watch list is “an imperfect tool for assessing an individual's terror threat.”[iii] 

The NRA’s concern about the trustworthiness of the FBI’s terrorist watch list is legitimate.  Consider the United States No Fly list of suspected terrorists who are not allowed to board airplanes.  The most common names on the list are “Gary Smith, John Williams [and] Robert Johnson.”[iv]  To travel, hundreds of men named Gary Smith, John Williams and Robert Johnson must prove they are not terrorists.  Hypothetically, hundreds of Gary Smiths, John Williams and Robert Johnson could be denied their Second Amendment right to bear arms.

That’s not the only reason the NRA opposes the congressional bill.  The NRA is a shill for weapons manufacturers.  The NRA’s promotes fear of government tyranny, “there are only two reasons for the government to create that federal registry of gun owners – to tax them and take them.”[v]

The NRA argues the federal government cannot protect its citizens.  “Terrorists and home invaders and drug cartels and car-jackers and knock-out gamers and rapers, haters, campus killers, airport killers, shopping mall killers, road-rage killers, and killers who scheme to destroy our country with massive storms of violence against our power grids, or vicious waves of chemicals or disease that could collapse the society that sustains us all.”[vi] 

Marketing fear leads to gun hoarding which leads to record profits for weapons manufacturers.  In 2014, Americans spent $42.9 billion on guns and ammunition.  Guns sales more than doubled from 4,498,944 in 2008 to 10,884,792 in 2013.  The stock price of Smith and Wesson increased 93% and is valued at $500 million.[vii]      

Promoting itself as the defender of the Second Amendment, the NRA encourages their dues paying members to “keep your own membership active, or reactivate it if it has lapsed. It means reminding yourself, “I have a son and daughter who aren’t members and should be.” It means reaching out to your hunting and shooting friends and personally telling them why it’s so important that they join the NRA now, during this time of peril.”[viii]

However, the NRA will never admit their opposition to S. 551 and H.R. 1076 protects white supremacists, extreme right wing organizations, Neo Nazis, and hate groups from being placed on terrorist watch lists.  Hate groups are the weapon manufacturer’s biggest consumers.  Imagine the reduction in weapons sales if members of the Klu Klux Klan, the Aryan Nation or any of the 784 hate groups currently operating in the United States are not allowed to stockpile weapons.

Bullying an apathetic Congress, the NRA empowers American terrorist organizations to stockpile weapons, ammunition and explosives.

Congressional inaction already put Americans at risk.  “The GAO found…  [Between] 2004 and 2014, suspected terrorists attempted to purchase guns from American dealers at least 2,233 times. And in 2,043 of those cases — 91 percent of the time — they succeeded.”[ix]  

In his prophetic farewell address to the nation, President Eisenhower warned Americans “against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex.”[x]  We ignored the warning giving rise to the unbreakable iron triangle relationship between Congress, weapons manufacturers and the Defense Department.  Opposition to the Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2015 exposes the cozy relationship between weapons and explosives manufacturers, the NRA and American terrorist organizations, the new holy trinity in American politics.

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[i] S. 551 and H.R. 1076 Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2015.

[ii] “Terror in Oklahoma: The Bomb; Ideas Abound, But Blocking Oklahoma-Type Bombs Is Seen As Unlikely,” by Fox Butterfield, New York Times, 5/3/1995.

[iii] “From 2004 to 2014, Over 2,000 Terror Suspects Legally Purchased Guns in the United States,” by Christopher Ingraham, Washington Post, 11/16/2015.

[iv] “Unlikely Terrorists on No Fly List,” Steve Kroft, 60 Minutes, 10/5/2006.

[v] Wayne Lapierre’s speech, CPAC Convention, 3/15/2013.

[vi] Wayne Lapierre’s speech, CPAC Convention, 3/6/2014.

[vii] Melissa Harris Perry, 12/5/2015.

[viii] Stand and Fight, Wayne Lapierre, Executive Vice President, NRA, 2/13/13.

[ix] “From 2004 to 2014, Over 2,000 Terror Suspects Legally Purchased Guns in the United States,” by Christopher Ingraham, Washington Post, 11/16/2015.

[x] Military Industrial Complex Speech, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1/17/1961.

Dear Miss Dash

Recently on a campaign stop in Ohio, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said the views of the Republican presidential candidates regarding women's health were extremists and out of touch with the modern world.  "Now, extreme views about women, we expect that from some of the terrorist groups," Mrs. Clinton said.  "We expect that from people who don't want to live in the modern world.  But it's a little hard to take coming from Republicans who want to be president of the United States."(1)

That remark prompted Stacey Dash, actress and Fox News daytime talk show Outnumbered panelist, to say Hillary Clinton is a sociopath.  In her blog entry, Miss Dash used a dictionary definition to label Mrs. Clinton, "a person with psychopathic personality whose behavior is antisocial and who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience."(2)  Miss Dash implies Mrs. Clinton lacks empathy/remorse because she's pro-choice and supports Planned Parenthood, therefore Mrs. Clinton is a sociopath.

Furthermore, Miss Dash says, "Anyone who can describe candidates who want to stop the butchering of babies to terrorists who kill babies is simply wrong, messed up, and a liar.  She's definitely a criminal.  We already know that.  What's left to find out is how long she'll spend behind bars, not behind the desk in the oval office."(3)

Granted Mrs. Clinton used loaded language to characterize her Republican opponents.  Miss Dash could have said Mrs. Clinton was irresponsible.  Instead she responded in kind, name calling.

Under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, Miss Dash can argue she has a right to express her opinion, but without facts to support her claim Mrs. Clinton is a sociopath, her views are erroneous opinions.

If Miss Dash is going to label Mrs. Clinton a sociopath, she'll need stronger proof than a dictionary.  I've read a few books on the subject of sociopaths and Mrs. Clinton's position on Planned Parenthood and abortion rights is not proof she's a sociopath.       

First, there's a distinction between psychopath and sociopath, they are not interchangeable.  Psychopathic behavior is linked to brain function (nature).  Sociopathic behavior is linked to upbringing (nurture).  Some monsters are born, others are created.   

Second, Miss Dash focused on one dictionary characteristic, lacking remorse and ignored antisocial behavior.

Third, Sociopaths have 20 characteristics.  I won't go into detail on each characteristic, just enough to prove Mrs. Clinton is not a sociopath.(4)

According to psychiatrist J.M. MacDonald, early childhood signs of sociopathic behavior are bed-wetting, torturing small animals and setting fires.  Sociopaths exhibit early behavioral problems, becoming juvenile delinquents, committing robberies and assaults.

I can hear the chorus, she's a Clinton and Clinton's excel at covering up their crimes.  Just because we can't find proof Hillary was an arsonist, killed small animals and wet the bed until she went to college doesn't mean she didn't do it.

Sorry conspiracy theorists, Hillary is a sociopath because I cannot prove Hillary is not a sociopath is an ad ignoratium fallacious argument.

Shallow effect is another sociopathic characteristic.  A sociopath is able to express emotion, but "the feelings and emotions are rather limited in strength and depth of feeling."(5)  If you believe Mrs. Clinton is a sociopath, it follows she's incapable of loving her daughter Chelsea.

Sociopaths have grandiose sense of self-worth.(6)  Hillary haters will argue running for president is an example of grandiose self-worth and it would be if Mrs. Clinton was a high school dropout who was unable to keep several menial jobs, but in the first Republican presidential debate Florida Senator Marco Rubio attested Mrs. Clinton has a formidable resume.  Sociopaths lack the discipline to forge Mrs. Clinton's career.

Sociopaths don't have realistic long term goals.(7)  Hillary haters will argue she rose on the coattails of her husband President Bill Clinton.  Without him, she's just another lawyer.  Regardless of how she got to this point in her life, Mrs. Clinton is not unqualified to be president.

Speaking of President Bill Clinton, sociopaths are unable to sustain long term relationships.(8)  The Clintons have been married for 40 years.

Miss dash is a Republican pro-lifer who opposes Planned Parenthood's abortion practices, fetal tissue research and any Democratic candidate for president, especially the front-runner Hillary Clinton.  It's not surprising Miss Dash would hurl a loaded term at Mrs. Clinton, but the use of the word sociopath lacked knowledgeable justification.

Unfortunately it's a common political tactic to label an opponent with a loaded word because words are easier to remember than policy positions.  Real estate developer Donald Trump catapulted to the top of the GOP field using this strategy.  Instead of explaining the policy implications of illegal immigration, Mr. Trump labeled undocumented Mexican immigrants criminals, rapists and drug dealers.

In politics you label your opponent before they label themselves.  Contrary to popular thought, President Nixon started the phenomenon and President Reagan's presidential campaigns perfected the tactic.  It's not enough to defeat Democrats, their ideology must be annihilated.  Language is a means to that end.  For a generation Republicans branded Democrats and liberalism as pro-criminal, anti-family, anti-capitalism, anti-religion and a threat to the American way of life.

American political campaigns have degenerated into blood sport, each side preemptively hurling epithets.  Mrs. Clinton didn't help the process by using the word terrorist in a stump speech, but Miss Dash branding Hillary Clinton a sociopath and a criminal is not the solution.  Reckless labeling and ad hominem attacks mutilates our political culture, producing a lost generation of cynics who abtain from the political process.



1- "Hillary Clinton Likens Republican Views on Women to Those of Terror Groups," Alan Rappeport, New York Times, August 27, 2015.
2- "Why I Called Hillary Clinton a Sociopath on Outnumbered," Stacey Dash, August 28, 2015.
3- "Why I Called Hillary Clinton a Sociopath on Outnumbered," Stacey Dash, August 28, 2015.
4 - The Psychopath Whisperer, Kent A. Kiehl, PhD, Crown Publishers, New York, 2014, pages 46-47.           
5- The Psychopath Whisperer, Kent A. Kiehl, PhD, Crown Publishers, New York, 2014, page 62.
6- The Psychopath Whisperer, Kent A. Kiehl, PhD, Crown Publishers, New York, 2014, page 53.
7- The Psychopath Whisperer, Kent A. Kiehl, PhD, Crown Publishers, New York, 2014, page 70.
8- The Psychopath Whisperer, Kent A. Kiehl, PhD, Crown Publishers, New York, 2014, page 73.