Leaping From 1968 Memphis to 2011 Tucson, and Mind-Reading Dr. King
As they did in other corners of the city and the country, shadows of Arizona hovered gloomily on Monday over Brooklyn’s annual tribute to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
How could they not? Dr. King, born 82 Januarys ago, was murdered with a firearm 39 years later. Now, out West, yet more insanity with a gun has claimed fresh victims, including a badly wounded congresswoman. The leap from Memphis, 1968, to Tucson, 2011, was predictable and easy for a series of elected officials who spoke at the city’s biggest King Day ceremony, held in the opera house of the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
All of them knew for sure what Dr. King, were he only still alive, would have done about America’s gun culture. He would have led campaigns to rein it in, they said. And they were probably right. It is hard to imagine Dr. King’s arguing that the Second Amendment codified a divine-ordained right to carry a Glock 19 with an oversize clip capable of firing 33 rounds without reloading....
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How could they not? Dr. King, born 82 Januarys ago, was murdered with a firearm 39 years later. Now, out West, yet more insanity with a gun has claimed fresh victims, including a badly wounded congresswoman. The leap from Memphis, 1968, to Tucson, 2011, was predictable and easy for a series of elected officials who spoke at the city’s biggest King Day ceremony, held in the opera house of the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
All of them knew for sure what Dr. King, were he only still alive, would have done about America’s gun culture. He would have led campaigns to rein it in, they said. And they were probably right. It is hard to imagine Dr. King’s arguing that the Second Amendment codified a divine-ordained right to carry a Glock 19 with an oversize clip capable of firing 33 rounds without reloading....