Hillary Clinton Talks ‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws Before Black Voters

One of the most irking things about politicians is that they don’t pursue America’s vote, they divide and subdivide us into target audiences and pursue the black vote, the Christian vote, the latino vote, the pro-choice vote, the gun vote, etc.

I think it’s insulting to everyone involved. To state the obvious, not all latino’s think alike, not all Christians think alike, not all blacks think alike, etc.  But that’s how we are viewed by the political class, as one segment or another of like-minded rubes who will be easily won over by targeted buzzwords and carefully crafted slogans at these small events and gatherings.

All politicians pander, of course, and speak to us as if we are incapable of thinking outside the stereotypical associations of our respective demographic.  But when Hillary does it, for some reason, it seems even more offensive, inauthentic and disingenuous than when others do it, which is odd because her husband Bill, the former president, was the master of schmoozing and convincing various voting blocks that he genuinely “felt their pain.”

At a recent town hall meeting in front of a large African-American audience, Hillary attempted to prove that she was sensitive to the needs of the community.

Clinton said that “Stand Your Ground” laws need to be “rewritten” and that drawing a gun has become a “knee-jerk reaction.”

“Yes, there is a role in extreme situations to defend yourself and defend your home, but unfortunately what we’ve seen too much of in the last few years is a spate of people who have reached for a gun before they really figured out what was going on,” she said. “They’ve been much too eager to use that gun. We’ve seen it with policing and we’ve seen it with civilians.”

Clinton went on to say that the current situation with respect to gun ownership is “way out of balance,” and that she “not backing off of this fight” (for tougher gun laws).

“I don’t see any conflict between the legitimate protection of Second Amendment rights and protecting people from gun violence from people who should never have guns in the first place,” she said.

It goes without saying, but Clinton is deeply misguided on gun laws and gun ownership. Stand Your Ground laws have nothing to do with the high-profile, officer-involved shootings that make headlines. Those are a separate and distinct issue that have more to do with police training and protocol. Stand Your Ground laws, by contrast, simply protect the natural right of self-defense that all people — white, black, brown, yellow, purple, whatever — possess. But if one wanted to, one could argue that SYG laws are even more important for those who live in high-crime areas. Clinton should be standing up for Stand Your Ground — not maligning it.

As it relates to her comment about gun laws being “way out of balance,” Clinton must not realize that crime rates are at record lows while, at the same time, concealed carry rights are at record highs. All 50 states now have some form of concealed-carry issuing standard on the books. Therefore, arguing for tougher gun laws is like arguing that we should adopt the very conditions that yielded the high-crime days of the late 80s early 90s. It makes little sense.

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On an tangential note, below is video from a presidential debate in 1992.  Clinton doesn’t come out and say “I feel your pain” in it, I don’t think, but his response and engagement with the woman who asked the question was nothing short of fantastic.  Hillary just can feign that authenticity.  When she tries she comes across as batty and awkward.

Man, Bill was a smooth criminal back then. I would have never voted for the guy (I couldn’t at the time anyways, I was about 10 years old), but I can certainly see why others were hoodwinked.