Projection  by Tom Reynolds

There is a saying that whatever the Democrats are accusing you of doing, they are already doing, themselves.  I saw a recent article in Ammoland that adds another dimension to that saying and, perhaps, it explains some of the motivation of the Left. 

Sigmund Freud called it “projection.”  People assign their own fears, flaws, and impulses to others as a psychological defense mechanism.  It’s easier to accuse someone else and attach your own toxic personality traits onto others than it is to confront yourself.  For example: If a man feels emasculated and insecure, he labels masculinity itself as “toxic.”

Projection is also political and it might just explain why the anti-gun Left is so determined to disarm law-abiding Americans.

The Democrat leadership will tell you guns are the cause of violence as if an inanimate object can, by itself, initiate violence.  Or are they really projecting their own thoughts that, “If I had a gun, I might lose control.” It’s not our behavior that they’re afraid of, it is their own behavior, projected onto us. 

Lately, there have been several “gun violence” incidents by radical left wingers.  The media and the Democrat leadership quickly blamed guns for the actions of those left-wing radicals and called for more gun control.  Is it deliberate misinformation or political spin or is it the Democrats’ inability to face uncomfortable truths about themselves?  Did the Democrat elite again come face-to-face with their own worst fears about themselves?

Their inability (or refusal) to self-reflect when mixed with their toxic ideology becomes extremely dangerous. (We on the Right are not paranoid, the Left really is out to get us!) 

Everyone can fall into the same trap.  But on the right, there’s a level of moral restraint, (spiritual / religious grounding), that keeps most – but not all - of us from acting out violent fantasies. Many of us live with a belief in higher accountability. But in an atheistic communist society, there is no spiritual higher power.  Those with a conscience tend to use their power responsibly. Those without a conscience, who project their violent impulses on others, can become unpredictable and unstable.

Does the Left oppose civilian gun ownership because they assume that we’ll use a gun the way they imagine themselves using it? That we’ll act on the same immoral impulses they’ve refused to confront in themselves? 

Do they want to be sure we cannot use guns against the Democrat power elite because they see themselves as taking up arms against the Republican power elite?

To SCOPE members and many other Americans, a firearm is a tool for protection, for hunting, for preserving life, and defending the innocent. To others, it’s a tool of power and aggression. That difference lies not in the object, but in the mind of the holder.

Should we worry about the person who views a gun as a last line of defense or the one who sees it as a first strike in an act of violence?

NY City

Two off-duty officers were waiting in plain clothes for the train on a Long Island Rail Road platform when a man attempted to rob them. One of the officers shot the thief and he was hospitalized in stable condition. The officers sustained minor injuries.

 The police identified the thief as Jahmar Stewart, 32, whose last known address is a Brooklyn homeless shelter.

Three - of many - issues here are NY City’s soft on crime policies, the inability of NY City citizens to get a concealed carry permit and "gun-free zones"

According to the New York Post, Stewart has a number of arrests to his name this year. New York City's soft-on-crime policies returned a violent suspect to the streets, even when he was already facing charges from a previous arrest.

Stewart was arrested on August 8th for allegedly attacking another resident at the homeless shelter.  The victim was gathering his belongings when he got into an argument with Stewart, who slugged him multiple times.  The top charge in that case was third-degree assault, which is not bail-eligible, and Stewart was released on his own recognizance.

Stewart was busted on a petit larceny charge July 16th for allegedly stealing fruit juice from a bodega on East New York Avenue.

Stewart was also arrested and charged with menacing in July for allegedly threatening another resident at the homeless shelter with a knife, but was released on his own recognizance.

Stewart was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault in June, after allegedly hitting another resident in the head with a tree branch. 

If they are going to allow criminals to roam the streets, shouldn’t citizens be able to ‘bear arms’ to protect themselves.  Didn’t the Supreme Court’s heller McDonald and Bruen decisions have something to say about citizens bearing arms to protect themselves?  Apparently, Supreme Court decisions do not apply in NY City.

The NYPD is slow-walking the issuance of concealed carry permits. In fact, the department won't even say how many permits have been issued this year, but there are ongoing lawsuits featuring plaintiffs who have waited a year or more to receive their carry permit.  In other cases, litigants have been awarded their permits only after they've filed suit.  (You have to hire an attorney or threaten a lawsuit to exercise a fundamental civil right in NYC, unless you're willing to wait a year or two before being able to legally bear arms.) 

Since most of NYC is a “gun free zone,” the few New York City residents who've been able to obtain a license to carry are prohibited from lawfully carrying throughout much of the five boroughs, including on public transportation, A 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals panel upheld "gun-free zones", declaring that "prohibiting firearms in quintessentially crowded places" is part of the national tradition of gun ownership.   

There's virtually no chance of legislative relief in New York State dominated by leftist gun grabbers in all three branches of government.  There is litigation but it will take years. In the meantime, American citizens in New York City remain at risk from violent predators and are prohibited from exercising their Second Amendment right to armed self-defense.

This was apparently the third attempted robbery of off-duty police officers in the Big Apple within a week-long span.  Luckily for the police, they can carry a firearm when off duty; something denied to almost all other law-abiding New York City residents.  Why should off-duty law enforcement be the only ones who can protect themselves with a firearm in these dangerous environments? 

Answer.  Because Kathy Hochul says so.  If you don’t like being told what you can’t do, vote  her out in 2026.

Why is the Democrat Party losing voters?

Minnesota state Senator Ron Latz (DFL) said that women, not men, need special training to own a firearm.  “….a firearm owned by a woman for self-defense, the evidence is it is more likely to end up being used against her by the attacker rather than used to successfully defend herself. That’s the data, so maybe that points to the even greater need for training on how to use the firearm and to prevent it from being taken by an attacker and used against her.”

Latz did not provide any substantiation for the “evidence” or “data” to which he alluded.

A male Democrat categorizes women needing more training than men in the use of a tool that does not require any special male gender advantages like size or strength.

So much for sexism being trumpeted as a Republican’ vice.

________________________________________________

And if you think only male Democrats have views in contrast to reality.

 NPR’s Tonya Mosely asked former Vice President Kamala Harris about her gun control platform: “In cities like Philadelphia, handguns are responsible for most homicides and violent crime.  How will you address the issue of the use of handguns because a push for an assault weapons ban only addresses, um, a significant but small part of the problem?”  (Emphasis added.)

The former vice president couldn’t answer why Democrats are going after “Assault Weapons” when hand guns are a much bigger issue.  Harris tried to deflect with the standard Democrat cliché that Modern Sporting Rifles need to be banned and universal background checks must be implemented. 

Mosely interrupted and pressed her further: “Respectfully, we do understand that. But I’m asking specifically about handguns because many of those handguns aren’t purchased at places that run background checks. In many of those instances those handguns aren’t bought lawfully.”  (Emphasis added)

The ex Vice President had no response to the logical reasoning that criminals do not follow the law.  Harris shifted her answer to another gun control cliché – gun shows, when she said: “But the gun show loophole and why we need to close that. Because what ends up happening is that gun shows at flea markets, gun dealers are not, under existing law in the past, required to register their sales.”

Contrary to Harris statement, the facts are:

gun dealers (FFL’s) are required to do background checks not matter where the gun is sold;

the federal government is prohibited, by law, from keeping a gun registry;

And as to the “gun show loophole,” according to the Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics’ study of federal and state inmates who used a gun in commission of a crime, “Inmates, 2016:”

90% did not obtain it from a retail source.

43% obtained it “off the street” or from the “underground market”

7% found it at the scene of the crime

6% stole it

0.8% obtained the firearm at a gun show 

The “gun show loophole” that Harris references is a myth.

_______________________________________

Harris did not have an answer for criminals illegally buying handguns, but Representative Jasmine Crockett, (D-Texas) provided cover; criminals aren’t necessarily criminals. 

Crockett appeared on Jonathan Van Ness’ "Getting Better" podcast, where the host asked her to share one key fact she wishes more people knew about crime in America.

“…just because someone has committed a crime, it doesn’t make them a criminal. That is completely different. Being a criminal is more so about your mindset. Committing a crime can come for a lot of different reasons."

I wonder if crime victims would feel better if they knew they were not criminalized by a criminal?

Nevada

In Point of Contract (POC) states, firearm purchase background checks go through state or local authorities, rather than the FBI’s NICS system.  These states are: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, New Jersey, Oregon, Utah, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, Illinois, Nevada  and New York. 

On August 24, a ransomware attack took down Nevada’s POC system.  Federal Firearm Licensee (FFL) dealers in Nevada were unable to process firearm transfers for most customers until September 14th.  (That’s three weeks.)

Apparently, many of the state’s computer systems are integrated as this also impacted the DMV, Medicaid, SNAP, and WIC benefits. 

When the state’s system went offline, so did the ability to run POC background checks. Without clearance, most firearm sales could not legally be completed.  Nevadans with a valid Concealed Carry Permit (CCP) could take possession of purchased firearms; a CCP serves as an alternative form of clearance under Nevada state law.  All other sold guns piled up in gun shops waiting for state background checks.  And how many sales were lost? This has had a serious impact on the financial health of many gun shops.

It has also put people at risk.  Individuals who wanted to purchase a gun for the first time weren’t likely to have a CCP.  If these non CCP people wanted a gun to be protected from abuse, a stalker, gang violence in the neighborhood, etc. well…too bad.

Governor Joe Lombardo was asked to issue an emergency declaration that would allow FFLs to submit their background checks directly to the NICS System.  The governor never replied, which is a polite way of saying, “Forget it!”  (We New Yorkers can anticipate a similar reply from Governor Hochul when this happens in New York State.)

The Nevada Office of Emergency Management admits that: “hackers exfiltrated data” during the attack. What a relief!  The hackers did not steal any data, they only “exfiltrated” the data which means they copied information out of state systems and took it off-site…Oh wait, isn’t that stealing?

Governor Lombardo said that residents’ personal information had not been compromised.  That’s encouraging since we New Yorkers know that governors never lie! 

But just in case, Lombardo also said: “If investigators eventually discover otherwise, we will follow Nevada strict statutes about personal data breaches by notifying any affected individuals promptly and providing resources to help protect them.”

If data was “exfiltrated” and includes firearms-related information, this breach could expose the identities and addresses of law-abiding Nevada gun owners, which would identify households most likely to contain firearms. If Nevada gun owner data is now in the hands of criminals…

Could this happen in New York State since we are also a POC state?

Remember how smoothly establishing the NYS system went?  (Sarcasm intended.) 

NY State has been losing gun shops and a three-week shut down would probably put many more out of business.  Would Kathy Hochul and the NY Legislature feel bad about that?  FFL’s in NY State must be hyperventilating when they think about their businesses’ future being dependent on the quality of security in the NY State computer network.

Legal Updates Highlights

Schuyler County sends out “Legal Updates” every month, which can also be found in its entirety on SCOPE’s website.  Other highlights are in the Firing Lines.  Below are two articles showing growth in gun ownership, even in New York City.

Brooklyn’s newest gun store in 50 years opens with focus on education and safety

A National Rifle Association-certified firearms instructor and trainer has opened Brooklyn’s newest gun store in 50 years.  Owner Michael Bergida has reported a steady stream of phone calls and customers.

Customers are only allowed to enter the highly secure double door entrance by appointment and people must show their gun license.

Bergida was inspired to start the business from the June 2022 Supreme Court decision, New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn. v. Bruen. The landmark ruling dramatically relaxed gun laws and expanded the right to bear arms. Bergida got his license a year later and became an instructor. He opened a site to help people get licensed, learn about responsible gun ownership and learn gun safety online.

Bergida wants to educate people about responsible gun ownership through seminars and training. “A lot of people have really bad heads here when it comes to guns in New York City. There’s no gun culture here, and they don’t really understand it,” Bergida said. “My job is to educate.”

(SCOPE note: Bergida is wrong, there is a gun culture in New York City - among criminals.)

Lox & Loaded gun club aims for self-defense for Jewish community amid antisemitism threat

The gun club is aimed at giving Jews and allies the tools to defend themselves with antisemitism at historic levels in the U.S.

"It's never been easy being Jewish, but it's feeling harder and harder," said Lox & Loaded Member Jeffrey Sumber. "I think people that were in liberal households, or weren't accustomed to firearms, are realizing that the police cannot be at every street corner and every event," added gun owner Gayle Pearlstein. "We aren't big Second Amendment gun people, but we love our identity, and we will do anything to preserve it," said Daniel Schwartz, president of the Chicago Jewish Alliance, "and if that means defending it, we will."

The 2025 SCOPE Annual Banquet will be on Saturday, September 27th Tickets are $65 per person at the Palmyra VFW Post 6778 4312 NY-31, Palmyra, NY _________________________________ Email updates will be sent out as we receive speaker confirmations, and updates will also be posted on our website. The Banquet Emcee will be Conservative Radio Talk Show Host: Bob Lonsberry _______________________________________ Michael Henry:   Seeking the GOP nomination to challenge NY Attorney General Letitia James in 2026 Will be speaking _________________________________________ To purchase tickets and pay by check: *Order Form *Must be postmarked by Friday, September 12th To purchase tickets using your credit card: **2025 SCOPE Annual Banquet **Ticket sales will be closed Monday, September 15th We hope to see you there, but if you cannot make it and would like to donate to the banquet, use the red button below and type Banquet in the comment section  Thank you for your support.

Quicker So You Are Not Deader

In the case known as Ortega, et al. v. Lujan Grisham, et al, a three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. District Court of Appeals has ruled 2-1 that New Mexico’s seven-day waiting period to purchase a firearm “is likely an unconstitutional burden on the Second Amendment rights of its citizens,” and has reversed a lower court ruling and remanded the case back to the district court “with instructions to enter injunctive relief consistent with this opinion.”

The decision stated, “Cooling-off periods infringe on the Second Amendment by preventing the lawful acquisition of firearms. Cooling-off periods do not fit into any historically grounded exceptions to the right to keep and bear arms, and burden conduct within the Second Amendment’s scope”.

Also emphasized was that this approach treated every citizen as dangerous simply for wanting to buy a firearm.

_________________________________________________________________

Last June, a three-judge panel ruled that California’s one handgun purchase per month law failed to meet the standard set in the ‘Bruen’ decision and, therefore, the law was unconstitutional.

On August 14th, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals finalized the ruling that this law is unconstitutional. 

The full panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to review a lower court’s ruling that California’s one gun per month purchase limit violates the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment. That made final the June decision against the California law.

Back in 2012, a Virginia law limiting handgun purchases to one per month was repealed. 

State Delegate Scott Lingamfelter said: "I think Virginians deserve effective laws, and one handgun a month has been overtaken by technology and improved background checks.  Criminals don't go into gun stores, stand there in the bright light, hand over their driver's license and stand there and wait for the vendor to see if they have a criminal record.  If you really want to get after gun crime, you get after people who use guns illegally. You don't punish law-abiding citizens."

_________________________________________________________________

Closer to home, NY State proposed laws:

S00418 andA01774 make it a misdemeanor to procure more than one firearm during any period of 30 days.

S00362 and A01210 establish a 10 day waiting period before a firearm sale can be completed by delivery to the buyer. __________________________________________________________________

As part of the administration’s crackdown on crime in the nation’s capital,  President Donald Trump streamlined the gun permitting process for honest citizens in the District of Columbia,

Trump’s “Making DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force” will allow D.C. residents to book next-day appointments to register their firearms with the Metropolitan Police Department and walk-in appointments are available.  Previously, applicants had to wait up to four months for a registration appointment.

Unasked Questions

The murder, last week, of the school children in Minnesota was a tragedy beyond belief.  Every parent has to shudder at the thought.

Of course, the anti-2A leftists immediately sounded the call for more gun control as if that was the only solution.  This confirms that the left’s ultimate purpose is not safety but to remove all civilian gun ownership from the United States.  If their goal was safety, they would also look at equally legitimate issues. 

For instance:

Isn’t it legitimate to question whether having Gun Free School Zones (GFSZ) is effective and questioning whether GFSZ is even a good idea?

Gun-free zones began with the Gun-Free School Zone Act (GFSZA) Of 1990  which was declared unconstitutional by the U S Supreme Court in United State v Lopez.  So, in 1995, Congress amended the GFSZA to apply only to firearms that had moved in interstate commerce, which is, effectively, almost all firearms.  This reinstated the gun-free zone framework.

Because of the GFSZA, every school shooting since 1995 has happened in a gun free zone. 

The Minnesota shooter wrote: “I recently heard a rumor that James Holmes, the Aurora theater shooter, may have chosen venues that were “gun-free zones.” I would probably aim the same way… Holmes wanted to make sure his victims would be unarmed. That’s why I and many others like schools so much.”

In 2018, the Crime Prevention Research Center released a study showing that 97.8% of mass shootings that occurred over a 68-year period were carried out in GFSZA’s. The Crime Prevention Research Center also found that armed civilians ended 33.8% of active shooter incidents between 2014 and 2021, when they were present and legally able to respond.

Isn’t the issue of gender change and mental illness also deserving of further exploration?

The shooter was a biological boy who changed his name to a girl.  In his writings, he expressed regret at assuming another gender. 

‘Transitioned’ and ‘non binary’ murderers were responsible for murders at the Covenant School in Nashville Tennessee, in a Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub, at a Denver-area charter school and at a Rite Aid warehouse in Aberdeen, Maryland.  Some would say that these are a small percentage of mass murders.  But transgender people are a small percentage of the population. 

The Minnesota boy’s mother signed off on the name change to a girl.  Would results have been different if gender change had been treated as a mental illness instead of validating it?

Should the issue of developing ‘Red Flag’ laws that are constitutional have been raised?

The Minnesota murderer left writings which indicated, as one person put it, he hated everybody.  There were probably lots of other signs that this person had severe mental / antisocial issues.  All the more reason for ‘Red Flag’ laws?  But most ‘Red Flag’ laws are only fronts for ignoring the Constitution in the drive to disarm all Americans.  If the goal was really safety, why don’t the anti 2Aers develop laws that don’t trample the Constitution?   

Why wasn’t there security at the school?

Many people believe blue state governments are controlled by teachers’ unions and the union leaders campaign against any school system other than public schools.  Since the Minnesota murders happened at a nonpublic Catholic School, where was the security? 

The Minnesota Catholic Conference wrote Governor Tim Walz twice in two years for a small security grant to protect against school shootings because nonpublic schools were excluded from Minnesota’s $50 million Building and Cyber Security Grant Program and Minnesota’s Safe Schools Program.  Their 2023 letter to Walz wrote: “There are approximately 72,000 students enrolled in Independent, Catholic, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim nonpublic schools in our state.”

Shouldn’t someone be asking why 72,000 students were not included in a Safe Schools Program?

What impact did the shooter’s use of marijuana have in this tragedy?

It's reported that the Minnesota shooter wrote: “Gender and weed f*cked up my head. I wish I never tried experimenting with either.”

A Canadian study of 14 million shows how the risk of schizophrenia attributable to cannabis rose from 4% to 10% with legalization of cannabis (in 2018):https://t.co/Zc84KlPYnl pic.twitter.com/QRA9oyGVRF

 In another cohort study of individuals aged 14 to 65 years in Ontario, Canada, the proportion of incident cases of schizophrenia associated with Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD) almost tripled during a period of substantial liberalization of cannabis policy. Changes in Incident Schizophrenia Diagnoses Associated With Cannabis Use Disorder After Cannabis Legalization - PubMed

Thoughts and prayers

Tennessee State Representative Justin Jones said something others on the left have echoed: “…you have all these people who want to give thoughts and prayers after a shooting, but I was a minister, and that is a form of theological malpractice when you pray for something that you have the power to change.”

He’s right in that that it’s theological malpractice to do nothing when he and other legislators have the power to change things.  But he ignores that he and others like him let their drive to eliminate legal gun ownership blind them to addressing the real causes of these tragedies.

And criticizing prayers for those killed and injured and the bereaved families is one of the few ways most of us can react when liberal legislators in Blue States, like him, block the road to real solutions. 

Conclusion

After every tragedy, anti 2A leftists want the one and only issue to be gun control.  But the real issues are untreated mental illness, societal isolation, the failure of existing systems to intervene before violence erupts and on-line radicalizations.

Mass murders will always be exploited by anti-gun activists to push for restrictive laws that infringe on law-abiding citizens’ rights, rather than address the many causes of these issues.

86 Years Ago

The most effective ‘mouthpiece’ of those who would take away our 2nd Amendment protected rights is the New York Times (NYT).  The leadership on the left swear by it.  (The rest of us swear at it!)  The NYT repeats anti-2A propaganda and many readers unquestioningly believe whatever the NYT prints.

A favorite tactic of the left is to try and destroy the credibility of those that oppose them by highlighting even the smallest issue.  It’s time 2A defenders went on the offense and highlighted something that was no small issue; the NYT got it wrong and it contributed to 20 million people being killed.         

Below is a cautionary tale about unquestioned belief in the NYT that is reprinted from Legal Insurrection.

‘In 1939, Hitler and Stalin concluded secret negotiations, which resulted in the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact on August 23 of that year, to bring about their desired division of Eastern Europe, beginning with Poland. This pact allowed Hitler to invade Poland with the Soviets’ blessing, which, as is well known, set into motion the Second World War.’

‘What is much less well known is that the New York Times reported on the start of the War by repeating and reinforcing the Nazi propaganda. The renowned author and journalist Ashley Rindsberg elaborates on this fact in his recent bestseller The Gray Lady Winked: How the New York Times’s Misreporting, Distortions and Fabrications Radically Alter History (p. 27): The New York Times bought the Nazi dupe without flinching. Underneath its famous banner, “All the News That’s Fit to Print,” the paper reported that, according to “Chancellor Hitler,” Germany had been attacked. Already in the second paragraph of the Times’s front-page article, the reporter … reprint[ed] verbatim Hitler’s infamous war speech to the Reichstag, which the Führer used to justify to the world, as much as to the German people, his invasion of Poland….’

‘Rindsberg describes this New York Times article as “what likely constitutes the single biggest, yet least recognized, journalistic failure on record.” (p. 26)  Eighty-six years later, American socialists and progressives, and even numerous liberals, still swear by the content and narrative promoted by the Times. They consider reading and trusting the paper a matter of intellectual refinement, social awareness, and moral superiority.’ (Emphasis added)

What Legal Insurrection did not talk about was that the NYT had a history of misrepresenting what was happening in the USSR.  Walter Duranty was a New York Times reporter, living in relative comfort in Moscow with his mistress, while Duranty covered up Stalin’s crimes, including the Ukrainian famine / genocide. 

He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting. 

Malcolm Muggeridge, a British journalist of note, later described Duranty as “the greatest liar of any journalist I have met in fifty years of journalism.”

But no editor at the NYT thought to question Duranty’s reporting.  Could it be that the NYT’s ideological sympathy was in line with socialism just as it is in line, today, with the anti-2A movement?

Gun grabbers use every opportunity to tell the general public of the awfulness of civilian gun ownership.  As defenders of 2A, we are well informed of the counter arguments, but those who exclusively read the NYT probably never read those counter arguments.  And those same readers put the NYT on a pedestal that it does not deserve.

Animal Farm

Ronald Reagan once joked:   A woman was getting married for the 4th time and was looking at wedding dresses.  The salesgirl was concerned that the bride was only looking at white dresses and hesitantly said: “White is generally reserved for first timers.”

“Oh, it’s my first time,” the bride replied.

“But you’ve been married three times?”

“Yes, but my first husband and I got into a terrible fight on the way to the reception.  We never spoke again and got divorced.”

“My second husband got too excited as we were undressing on the wedding night and died of a heart attack.”

“And my third husband, he was a socialist and all he did was sit on the edge of the bed and tell me how great it was going to be!

Socialists always tell us how great tomorrow will be under their leadership - but tomorrow never comes.

This month is the 80th anniversary of Animal Farm, which was published in August 1945. 

It exposed the myths surrounding socialism / communism and big government, where tomorrow never comes.

Animal Farm tells the tale of revolutionary farm animals overthrowing the human farmer, only to find themselves governed by a cabal of pigs who prove even more cruel and oppressive than the human they replaced.  

Those ruling pigs continually promise a new utopia, tomorrow, in which all animals enjoy equality.  Instead, the governing pigs ruthlessly consolidate power, distort the truth and live lives of luxury while the animals under their rule toil harder than ever.  Orwell famous line, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others” gets to the very root of socialism / communism.  

The working animals on Orwell’s fictional farm learned too late that they’d been duped.  Their sacrifices merely paved the way for a new elite class repeating egalitarian slogans. 

Orwell’s central message was that revolutions promising equality rather than individual freedom will devolve into a system of privilege and abuse.  Castro in Cuba, Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran, Mao in China and Stalin in the USSR provided equality; all but the elite were equally poor.  

Animal Farm exposes the corruption and privilege that ensue when government becomes too powerful and leaders impose their will on others, while rationalizing that hypocrisy.  It provides a cautionary tale about human nature and excessive government power. 

Those leaders who rail most loudly against alleged privilege and inequality often indulge in privilege after they gain power themselves.  For instance: Lyndon Johnson (War on Poverty) and Bernie Sanders (“millionaires and billionaires aren’t paying their fair share) were born poor and spent their life in ‘public service’ and became multi-millionaires. 

The reality remains the same.  Socialist rulers thrive within the system while excusing themselves from the standards they preach.  For example: they want to do away with citizen ownership of firearms while surrounding themselves with armed guards. 

About crime in Washington D.C., New York’s anti-gun Senator Chuck Schumer recently said, “I walk around all the time (in D.C.)…And I feel perfectly safe."  Omitted by Schumer is that he enjoys the comfort of full-time, taxpayer-funded armed security details, provided by the U.S. Capitol Police.  

Hypocrisy, thy name is Schumer.

Orwell’s warning thus remains:  Beware of leaders who preach most loudly of equality, because they typically make themselves “more equal” than the rest of us, when given too much power.  

On a related note, N Y State Senator Tom O’Mara has spoken to SCOPE chapters and said that when he first joined the NY legislature, twenty-one years ago, if he called a Democrat a Socialist, they would have vehemently denied it.  Now, the Democrats in the NY legislature embrace that title.