TPM Writer Misses Mark on Gun Owners

In an editorial for TPM Café writer Leonard Zeskind suggests that gun shows have transformed from a regular event that was about hunting and collectibles, into something aimed (no pun intended) at recruiting a white nationalist movement. He states this by noting:

“A few collectors remain, who display antique weapons in the same way as their cousins might collect stamps, particularly at the smaller weekend events. Nevertheless, as anyone who has been around these shows long enough to remember the time when mahogany exhibits of Civil War muskets were the rule and not the exception.”

Since when are collectible firearms limited to muskets and other vintage long guns? There is certainly a collectible market for all sorts of firearms. In fact, today World War I and World War II firearms are probably more commonly collected, and these do make up a reasonable proportion of any large gun show. Factor in the hunting gear, and the sports shooting and that’s a gun show. We’d like to ask Mr. Zeskind what shows he’s been to, because clearly there isn’t a lot of political recruiting going on!

More alarming is that Mr. Zeskind says that the gun shows have been transformed by the likes of these radicals and extremists. He says:

“This transformation of the gun show business reached its apotheosis in the 1990s, when restless young men like Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh traveled these circuits like itinerant preachers looking for new souls to save.”

Clearly Mr. Zeskind has an agenda. He even sounds a bit paranoid, which is ironic because he’s the one who claims gun owners are so paranoid.