A man places flowers outside the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020, the second anniversary of the shooting at the synagogue, that killed 11 worshippers. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Ambulance-chasing attorneys have long sought to monetize horrific crimes by suing gun manufacturers. Federal law has nearly put that to an end with the passage of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms, though lawyers and gun control advocates are constantly in search of novel approaches to skirting PLCAA protections.
Now, we have a new tactic by a desperate juris doctor in New York: sue the National Rifle Association on behalf of the son of a pair of the victims at the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting. Why in the world would the NRA have any culpability in this case? That’s a good question in a normal world.
From TribLive:
A man whose parents were killed in the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue massacre has sued the National Rifle Association, claiming the gun lobby radicalized accused shooter Robert Bowers with “white supremacist conspiracy theories.”
Marc Simon, the son of Bernice and Sylvan Simon, filed the lawsuit Thursday. It names as defendants the NRA, the gun maker Colt’s Manufacturing, indicted shooter [scumbag’s name redacted] and the unnamed company that sold [scumbag’s name redacted] the AR-15 used in the attack.
Eleven worshippers were killed in the Oct. 27, 2018, attack in Squirrel Hill.
“[Scumbag’s name redacted] was not born fearing and hating Jews,” attorneys wrote in the lawsuit. “The gun lobby taught him to do that.”
The gun lobby taught him to hate Jews? To murder innocent people in a house of worship?
As a Life Member of the NRA and a veteran of many of the association’s annual meetings and conventions, I can say with absolute certainty that neither the plaintiff or the attorney in this case has ever attended any of the NRA events I have.
The NRA has many flaws, but it doesn’t preach hate, racism, or violence. Instead, it advocates responsible gun ownership and conflict avoidance in addition to protecting and defending Americans’ right to keep and bear arms. The NRA actively defends the rights of law-abiding Americans to protect and defend their families.
The NRA is not hesitant to show why ignoring the proven benefits of firearm ownership can lead to tragic results…results like what happened at the Tree of Life synagogue.
In fact, the synagogue’s leader, Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, has been an advocate for gun control. And the day the wolf came to call, Rabbi Myers’ flock remained exposed and vulnerable to a madman with evil in his heart.
From Jewish News:
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, spiritual leader of the Tree of Life Synagogue, where the horrific shooting took place Saturday in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, railed against political leaders for not legislating stronger gun control laws.
In a blog on the synagogue’s website dated July 19, Rabbi Myers wrote, “Despite continuous calls for sensible gun control and mental health care, our elected leaders in Washington knew that it [calls for gun control in the wake of the Parkland school shooting] would fade away in time.”
‘’Unless there is a dramatic turnaround in the mid-term elections, I fear that the status quo will remain unchanged, and school shootings will resume,” he said.
Meanwhile, a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter did some digging into the killer’s background. He mentioned some fringe talk-radio hosts, but failed to find that the NRA had any role whatsoever in the killer’s alleged radicalization.
The attorney in this case is hoping for a big payout and loads of free publicity from filing this lawsuit. He’s likely to get it, too, from the compliant, gun rights-averse media. Whether or not the lawsuit has any merit will fall to the courts to decide. In all likelihood, it will die a quiet death as a dismissal won’t do anything to further the mainstream media’s guns-are-bad narrative.
The bottom line: the only thing that stops evil, deranged men from committing horrific acts is a good guy with a gun. In this instance, it took precious minutes for those good men with guns — the police — to show up and stop the killer’s rampage. In the meantime 11 people were killed and others wounded.
How might have this story played out if, in another world, Rabbi Myers embraced the right to keep and bear arms in self-defense? If the Tree of Life wasn’t a “gun-free” zone? How many of those killed might have survived if only one member of the congregation had been armed that day as someone was at a similar synagogue attack in San Diego?