As a symbolic act Professor Mark J. Bird’s protest against President Donald Trump mostly strengthens the case for keeping firearms out of the hands of the mentally ill.
The “professor emeritus” of the College of Southern Nevada was evidently consumed with anger regarding the president and was determined to show it by, as Jim Carrey said in “Liar, Liar,” “kicking my a**.”
At the heart it’s a pitiful story, but the coverage in The Washington Post is unintentionally funny. “He had a feel for the rhythms of the school day…Bird waited for the hallway to clear before entering a unisex bathroom… He taped a $100 bill and a note — 'For the janitor' — to the mirror.”
Then Bird took his .22-caliber Cobra Derringer in hand and shot himself in the left forearm.
That’s not something we would sign up to do, since even a little .22 must really hurt, but the hyperventilating WaPost coverage made it read like Bird used a howitzer: “ears screaming, Bird popped out of the door, blood gushing from his left forearm…[that he] purposely shot…so he would survive the blast.”
Bird collapsed in a heap and students helped until police and an ambulance arrived.
The repercussions of the “protest” pretty much began and ended in the “unisex bathroom.” Although the janitor no doubt could use the $100 tip, unless law enforcement seized the money as evidence, which would only add to the general farcical atmosphere surrounding this foolishness.
Now, days after Bird’s ears stopped “screaming” and the general excitement died down, not much has changed in the nation, although Bird’s life has undergone some drastic changes.
Trump is still president. While performance idiot Bird is facing criminal charges for bringing a gun into a gun-free zone, discharging a firearm, and carrying a concealed weapon without a permit to name but three of the felony offenses he now faces.
What passes for motive in this protest is something of a dog’s breakfast. Bird has mentioned Trump, malnutrition, “pollution deaths,” and “promoting better gun control” as reasons that forced him to draw a bead on his own forearm.
What the 69-year-old Bird did prove was surely not his intention. Namely that “common-sense gun laws” and gun-free zones don’t even deter elderly leftists, much less real criminals.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker’s bureau. Read more reports from Michael Reagan — Go Here Now.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian’s Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!)." Read more of Michael Shannon's reports — Go Here Now.