New deaths are still occurring following Friday’s massacre at Crocus City Hall just outside Moscow, with the figure at 137 at this writing. That’s almost 2½ times the body count amassed in the Las Vegas shootings, despite Russian gun laws that would merit an “A+” rating from the Giffords Law Center for U.S. states, with infringements including licensing, registration, background checks, psychiatric clearance, and police permission.
Now, despite facts still unfolding and the investigation being completed by a government of questionable credibility, fingers are being pointed with certainty by factions with a dog in the fight.
The official version is that ISIS has claimed responsibility and that an escape plan had been uncovered leading to Ukraine, which in turn points back at Russian President Vladimir Putin using this as an excuse to ramp up aggression. Others are claiming fingerprints all over this belonging to Mossad, MI6, and the CIA, especially after “the State Department warned Russia it was picking up ‘chatter’ about a possible terrorist attack that could occur at a concert.”
“Beyond a reasonable doubt” has never been the long suit of lynch mobs, and the agencies and governments mentioned have only their own past outrages to blame for being suspects. As for the reliability of information yet to be learned, while cutting off a terrorist’s ear, trying to force him to eat it, and plastering his bloodied mug on the front page may have a certain appeal to those looking for creative ways to deter domestic mass shooters looking for their 15 minutes of fame, any intel coerced with torture will have its own credibility issues (along with an Eighth Amendment proscription we allow to be disregarded at our peril). Besides, low-hanging fruits are generally the last to know who the informants and provocateurs in their cells really are or work for.
Plenty of other reports will talk about all this, so let’s look at an aspect of this story not getting any press—and that’s deliberate. Let’s look at what the gun prohibitionists, who are always quick to gin up the mob and demand more infringements before the facts are known, aren’t saying about the Russia concert massacre and why.
We can start with the Drudge Report, undeserving of its phony “conservative” reputation and undeservedly influential (“21,993,168 PAST 24 HOURS 527,508,370 PAST 31 DAYS 7,011,443,587 PAST YEAR” at this writing), with screaming headlines (BLOODBATH! STORMY DANIELS!) that are really thinly disguised in-kind contributions to Democrats.
Where are the extra-large bold font ALL CAPS links to the biggest mass shooting since Beslan?
Forget headlines. Why, on Sunday afternoon following the Friday massacre, must we scroll to find it buried at MSNBC and assigned equal importance as “What to know about the dizzying allegations around Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani’s translator” and “Alabama’s new anti-DEI law could cause a student athlete exodus”?
So much for the “media.” What about “social media”?
@TheDemocrats over at X, the party of citizen disarmament, can’t be bothered. They’re too focused on the competing priorities of Women’s History Month and how “@KamalaHarris inspires girls and young women everywhere” (let’s hope not!).
Meanwhile, Gungrabber-in-Chief @JoeBiden is “proud to stand with the Latino community today and every day” (a few days after the El Paso border invaders exhibited violence that would have gotten J6 protestors 10 more years) and brags he will “fix broken student loan problems.” Can there be any doubt that had a shooting 1/10th the scale happened here, he’d be demanding more gun bans and telling more lies?
Ditto for Astroturf rice bowl prohibitionists @MomsDemand, @Everytown, @GIFFORDS_org, @BradyBuzz, and @AMarch4OurLives. Not a word from them or from indignant professional pearl-clutcher David Hogg at this writing.
It’s almost like “gun violence” is just a made-up term used to exploit low-information voter emotions, and “gun safety” isn’t really the issue at all with these people. It’s almost like it’s all one big, stupid scam to swindle their countrymen out of their birthrights for reasons they won’t state, and if a story won’t serve those purposes, it’s not worth mentioning. Especially if, as in Russia, the government has already been doing everything they demand here – for years…
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
