Mike Beard, a leader and pioneer in gun violence prevention, has passed away after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. In 1978, Mike founded the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence, which helped to form [Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions].
His family has my sympathy, but gun owners will express some relief that another enemy has left the scene and will not be returning. Some of his harshest critics, such as Neal Knox, thought well of him as a person. And Beard thought well of Knox too. Give Beard credit for that.
In 1974 he became the founding President of the National Coalition to Ban Handguns and its sister organization Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence. The.National Coalition to Ban Handguns later became the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence when they added “assault weapons” to their list of guns to ban. That is nearly 50 years of advocacy of the elimination of a specific enumerated right. In addition to advocating for the banning private ownership of handguns.they also advocated:
- Opposition to the National Rifle Association’s interpretation of Second Amendment rights.[9]
- Support for firearm microstamping, a ballistic identification technology intended to allow law enforcement to trace the serial number of a firearm from ejected cartridge cases recovered from crime scenes.[10]
- Ban the private sale of guns by instituting universal background checks.[11]
- Ban concealed carry.[12]
- Opposition to the sale of what it classifies as assault weapons to private citizens.[13]
- Support for “countermarketing”, a strategy intended to force changes in gun industry’s marketing and distribution practices.[14]
- Opposition to removing the duty to retreat in self-defense law (i.e., stand your ground laws).[15]
- Support for stricter mental health screening for firearm purchases.[16]
- Support for the repeal of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.[17]
He, as nearly all anti-gun rights activists, regularly used deception and outright lies to further his agenda.
As I suggested a couple years ago, I would have preferred we could have enjoyed his trial. But outliving your enemy and knowing that he knew as he was dying his long held dreams were crumbling into dust does provide a certain amount of satisfaction.
Johns Hopkins, eh. So another Bloomberg puppet.
I wish I shared your optimism. As Mao taught, it matters not who wins a battle but who has the initiative. And the Left has the initiative almost everywhere. The pro-self defense community does a better job than anyone else on the Right at keeping the initiative but the rest of them are letting us down. And even on this issue CA, NY, NJ, DE, MD, IL, WA, OR, and MI have seized the initiative. Their initiatives are unconstitutional but they aren’t stopping, leaving us to try to play catch up in the courts which gives us some victories but is unsustainable.
Meanwhile big chunks of the Right are on board with *Biden’s foreign policy. (Fortunately, events have shifted the focus from Ukraine to Israel but the US is still playing globocop and will eventually betray Israel. ) No one with any kind of power is talking about honest elections. The banana republic stuff re J6, surveillance and the Trump persecution rolls on unchecked. The border is still dead. Inflation and crime are out of control. We get the occasional victory but they have the initiative.
“Thought well of him as a person”.
F–k that! All f–king commies must f–king die!
The guy advocated the disarming and death of people. He actively created gun free zones that have killed how many?
His basic premise that guns cause violence, as in the “gun violence” slogan, only proves the point that neither guns, nor violence is the problem. You being able to do them back is.
I try not to make judgements as to where folks end up after passing.
But I’m glad he did.
And I didn’t think well of him before. But I do now.
F–k the lot of communist bitches.
“Thought well of him as a person”.
As you suggest, strictly irrelevant.
Many people who have met dictators personally have remarked how personable and likable the tyrant was. This is especially true of Stalin, and Hitler before the stresses of micromanaging the war and the drugs his doctor gave him to cope took their toll.
Just another dead anti-gun grafter.
I’ll fix one sentence for you: “Support for firearm microstamping, a ballistic identification technology falsely claimed to allow law enforcement to trace the serial number of a firearm from ejected cartridge cases recovered from crime scenes.”
Never forget that things like this are not only an unconstitutional burden on an enumerated right, they’re illusory.