01 February 2022

Well Regulated Gun Rights

I had left Facebook back in 2015 (when its other "problems" had not yet surfaced). My departure was due to not wanting to see more of the political opinions of some family and friends. Those were primarily about "gun rights" as "an important issue," so I wrote down some of my thoughts at that time.

 

For me, the end was in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012. The next logical step, the only one left, would be for some other wannabe Devil to target a hospital maternity ward. But since elementary school kids pretty much still are babies, the next step wasn't necessary -- it had just happened. So I'm way past OVER the fucking "debate" on the "issue." If what happened there didn't make the American people do something, then the American people will never do anything.

Some people latch on to the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution as if God Wrote it in His Own Handwriting. You don't see that degree of zeal about any of the other Amendments. And you can't ask them why we should be so worried these days about British troops confiscating Americans' muskets because they won't know what you mean.

I can appreciate the qualities of all kinds of weapons. But I don't understand a gun fetish any more than I do a foot fetish. (And with Bruce Lee dead, there aren't that many people who can die by foot these days.) And of course, people get defensive and repeat empty slogans, talking about "rights" and "liberty" and how their shotguns help keep Our Nation "safe." (As if the US military forces need help with that.)

Speaking of military forces, should everyone be able to have a hand grenade? It's not clear why you should think they shouldn't if you think they can have a combat weapon like an assault rifle. (The definition being right there in the terminology, you see.) Hand grenades are "weapons of war," aren't they? That's why the military keeps a tight lock on their use and who is allowed access to them. They should NOT be in the hands of civilians.

Should you allow a toddler to play with a loaded gun? Should a raving maniac have a loaded gun? If your answer is NO, then you've already conceded the Number One Point in favor of "Gun Control": There are people who shouldn't be ALLOWED to have a fucking gun.

People are free to worship at the altar of the Second Amendment if they want. People are free to love guns. But guns aren't people -- people are people. And the problem isn't just that after every massacre, we spend more time talking about guns than about the people who got shot dead. It's also that the shooters loved guns, too -- but they didn't love people (or society, life, reality).

So, if you want, you can try to do something about people's mental health and antisocial tendencies, and good luck with that. Or you can try to do something about their access to weaponry. Or you can do nothing.

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