SHUN THE GUN
By now, it's pretty clear that our government is in the grip of the pro-gun forces. Exactly why this is true is a puzzle, since poll after poll shows strong support for sane gun legislation, but it is undeniable.
The gun people may control our government, but they don't control us. I think we should use as a role mode the success of the anti-drunk-driving movement. Remember back when drunk driving was a joke? When people would laugh at old Harry leaving the bar shitfaced and weaving down the road? Then people got fed up and started pushing the attitude that drunk driving was a danger to human life and that people who insisted on getting behind the wheel when drunk were, not to mince words, potential murderers.
It's time to turn that same kind of thinking against our gun-insane culture. People who act out their fantasies about guns or enable those who do are no different than those drunk drivers and their enablers. It's time to shun them, disassociate ourselves from them, stop doing business with them, stop visiting their homes and letting our children play there, stop patronizing business that fail to use the full extent of the law to make their premises gun-free and pass up no opportunities to let them know that we no longer consider them fit members of a civilized society.
* But guns have been a part of my family for years.
Three things: in my desk is a Barlow knife, a holdover from my years growing up on the farm. Back then, all of us usually had a knife in our pockets. It was a handy tool, frequently used. But, guess what? Times change. If a kid in junior high has a jackknife in his pocket, do we say, "Oh well, he probably uses it to cut the twine on hay bales?" Of course not, because the kid probably wouldn't know a hay bale from a pale ale. People would think it's a weapon and they'd probably be right. I don't take my Barlow knife on planes or into Federal buildings or anywhere, really. Times have changed.
The second: on the Colorado River in Arizona, there's a dam: the Laguna Diversion Dam. It's fairly unremarkable except for one thing: it's festooned with swastikas. No, not graffiti, but swastikas actually cut into the stone of the dam as part of its architecture. WTF you say. Seems that the dam was built in the early part of the 20th century, before WWII and the Nazis. The swastika was then the symbol of an Hindu god Indra, who had the power to control water. Somebody thought it would be a cool decoration, and it was, at least until Hitler and the Nazis came along and just really totally owned the swastika. Now, when anybody sees a swastika, they think of dive-bombing Stukas, Panzer tanks, Blitzkreig, and the Holocaust. If you want to worship Indra, forget the history, you can't use the swastika anymore. That's the way it is with guns now. When we talk about gun policy, it isn't about kindly old uncle Jack and his classic Baker double-barreled shotgun. It's about assault weapons with 100-round drum magazines and dozens of dead people.
And the last: While our national gun policy was evolving, it was a constant thing that we must respect the rights of hunters, recreational shooters, and others with legitimate uses and moderate views of guns. I thought it sounded good at the time, but at every turn the "moderates" made common cause with the extremists. You guys had a million chances to get on the side of the angels and you blew every one. I have no sympathy for you any more.
* I need guns to protect myself and my family.
If guns could protect you and your family then you should have them but they don't. Statistically, a gun in the house is far more likely to be turned on someone in the house or known to someone there. A gun that's at the ready to be used in seconds during a surprise home invasion is also ready to be picked up by a six-year-old. You might as well repel intruders by allowing a hundred rattlesnakes to slither around in your house. Yeah, technically it would work, but you'd be dead.
* I need guns to repel tyranny.
Who the hell are you going to shoot? And when? Do you possess some sort of Tyranny Meter? Do you start picking off local beat cops and sheriff's deputies when the state legislature passes a law you don't like? Maybe wait for the Bat signal? Or, do you wait until tanks are actually rolling down the streets? You think your tricked out hunting rifle with the cool GI Joe paint job is going to work against tanks?
* My kids need to learn how to handle firearms.
Yeah, and your kids could benefit from learning to drive an eighteen-wheeler too -- when they grow up. Teaching a kid how to use deadly force before they're emotionally mature enough to understand what it's all about is just asking for trouble. And, yes, I know your pappy took you hunting when you were twelve, but really, would the world come to an end if kids had to wait for some maturity before they started punching holes in wild animals?
* I have a constitutional right to carry a gun.
Yeah, a constitutional right that was suddenly discovered by a right-wing Supreme Court over 200 years after the Second Amendment was ratified. By our system of government, that makes it the law of the land, but we as individuals can still recognize it as a bad verdict and give the finger to people who assert it's legitimacy.
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