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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Rude Pundit has an exchange with a gun lover.
Every argument for the good of open carrying a weapon is bullshit. It doesn't affect crime. It doesn't deter a goddamned thing. In fact, what Open Carry Texas wants is "unrestricted open carry." That is, "Its not just the right to openly carry a pistol but also the right to do it without any training, screening or permit." OCT calls that "constitutional carry" because what the fuck do you know about the Second Amendment, pussy?So, sorry, Jasper. The Rude Pundit is left with his initial assessment: it's about dicks, dicks, and cocks. The Freudian message here is clearly a kind of arrested growth, with gun owners stuck in toddlerhood, where they are compelled to display their penises as a way of asserting masculinity, a narcissistic exercise. But, since just showing off your dick at the mall is illegal, a gun merely steps in as a rigid substitute. And as for the women who open carry, like a group at a Texas Target last week? Ever heard of "penis envy"?
That's fine parenting there, shirtless guy who needs more sunscreen.
..............................
There's a near-psychotic attachment people have to their guns, which is a sad commentary on where we are as a people here in the United States. But we've been through that tangled thicket of conflicted emotions before.
Instead, the Rude Pundit wants to ask a question of the people who bankroll the pro-gun movement, like the sinisterly wealthy Koch brothers, who give ass-tons of money to the NRA: Do you, as a rich person, really think it's smart to keep supporting policies that promote income inequality while at the same time fostering a belief in guns as the solution to Americans' problems? Have you really thought this through?
- See more at:
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2014/06/a-few-notes-on-our-continuing-gun.html#sthash.VDWTkQoY.dpuf
stevenleser
(32,886 posts)That said, I think he is mostly right. Except for the women--> penis envy part.
yellowcanine
(35,716 posts)xfundy
(5,105 posts)Its eyes remind me of those paintings of children with the enormous wet eyes.
Paladin
(28,307 posts)I've been observing the pro-gun militancy movement in this country for many years, and open carry has generated more negative publicity against that movement than anything I've encountered (with the possible exception of the 1968 political assassinations).
samsingh
(17,621 posts)Blue_Adept
(6,406 posts)It's really about fear. These people are just afraid of everything. They're fearful and they desire a security blanket - one that's more likely to kill them than any external threat - in order to feel safe.
it ain't about dick size. And continuing that trope stifles and stalls any actual conversation. Not that you can really have one anyway.
samsingh
(17,621 posts)I would bet their IQs are lower than gun control advocates
LiberalLoner
(9,762 posts)How many of us these days feel demeaned, insulted, dismissed, on a regular basis.
Strap on a weapon, and suddenly people notice them. Notice and fear them,which to some people might feel like they are getting respected.
Skittles
(153,504 posts)they're pathetic
riqster
(13,986 posts)"Do you, as a rich person, really think it's smart to keep supporting policies that promote income inequality while at the same time fostering a belief in guns as the solution to Americans' problems? Have you really thought this through? "
A very cogent point indeed.
JEB
(4,748 posts)them eat cake!
riqster
(13,986 posts)...if they don't wake up.
marble falls
(58,044 posts)dawg
(10,626 posts)feelings of powerlessness.
I think we miss the point entirely when we try to turn this phenomenon into a dick joke.
Turbineguy
(37,475 posts)expressed elsewhere.
I think however that those at the top expect these men to turn on others in the middle and lower classes while the rich pile into their yachts and airplanes and make a dash for it. The french aristocracy depended on agriculture. The assets of the modern rich are more easily converted or transferred.
n2doc
(47,953 posts)That's all it is about. Making people 'respect' (which is really making them fear) you. Especially true if you are someone who hasn't accomplished much in life and are feeling a bit sad about that.
meegbear
(25,438 posts)daleanime
(17,796 posts)Liberalynn
(7,549 posts)a local newspaper columnist who is normally very liberal compared Starbucks banning of guns in their store to other store owners banning gays. He said both open carry and being gay are legal so you are hypocritical if you say it's all right to ban one but not the other. He went onto comment that the choice should be up to the business owner as long as there is another place where those banned can get served.
I think his argument stinks. It's Apple's and Oranges. No one is in danger of ending up dead or maimed if they stand next to a gay person in line at the bakery. If they stand next to a person with a gun, however, it could happen either accidentally or on purpose. So it's a straw man argument.
dawg
(10,626 posts)It's more like apples and hand-grenades.
marble falls
(58,044 posts)weapons behind.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)it is the principle of it.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)11 Bravo
(23,928 posts)Tikki
(14,574 posts)got it good and nobody can take it away.
They have these big mean guns and they shine 'em up all pretty and they show them off to others who really aren't
in the slightest bit interested, but here they are...with their gun hanging out and you should think they are strong and brave
and you really just think they are idiotic.
Tikki
Dragonfli
(10,622 posts)Maybe they are starting to realize his rants aren't designed to harm anybody other than $@*^%$# freepers and Republicans. Even then his insults toward them don't actually draw blood.