I Hope This Doesn't Happen

Now comes David R. Stokes, writing on Townhall.com, drawing parallels between Bobby Kennedy's Presidential bid in 1968 and Barack Obama's candidacy 40 years later. He writes that some candidates

seem to transcend the race for a particular office and become, in fact, movements. That’s what was happening in 1968 with Robert Kennedy and it’s happening these days, for better or for worse, with Barack Obama.

Mr. Stokes recalls Richard Nixon's worried reaction to the the announcement of Kennedy's candidacy:

Richard Nixon was in Portland, Oregon on March 16th as he watched the New York Senator’s candidacy announcement. Already well on his way to the Republican nomination a few months later, he was facing the fact that he might indeed find himself running against the brother of the slain president who had beaten him eight years before. He told an aide as he watched, “very terrible forces have been unleashed. Something bad is going to come of this. God knows where this is going to lead.” Nixon understood something about politics, people, and the political milieu of the moment.

A few months ago I presented a candidate explanation of hoplophobia, the ailment suffered by those Jeff Cooper described as "people who are apparently haunted by a fixed and morbid aversion to our guns." That explanation covers why the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 led directly to the Gun Control Act of the same year. Quoting myself:

Many American Progressives believed that Robert F. Kennedy was the perfect "national leader attuned to the will of the people." Sirhan Sirhan, an individual armed with a handgun, deprived the "people" of their "leader". In response, the Progressives targeted the instrument that the individual used--because it was unthinkable that a mere individual could alone subvert the collective will.

As in 1968, might the shooting of a populist presidential candidate lead to a backlash against self-defense tools? Would a shocked nation, eager to find a scapegoat, try to blame the instrument of the assassin rather than the choices and motives of the killer? Could an event of this political magnitude reverse two decades of progress on the rights of individuals to protect themselves against predators of all species?

I do not want my house to burn down, but I still carry homeowners insurance. I don't want to be involved in a car crash, but I still put on my seatbelt. I do not want Barack Obama to be injured or killed, but I'm worried about the consequences of that possibility. Far better that he be defeated at the polls in November--or even be elected President--than for his candidacy to be cut short by his untimely demise.