Strange Danger

Do the Gun Grabbers Have Anything Convincing Left to Say?

I've been a supporter of the Second Amendment for as long as I can remember. Despite this, I usually hold my tongue when it comes to gun rights. Most of the people I've encountered who want to restrict gun rights, aren't really bad people. They want full auto bans, background checks, magazine limits, etc. I get it. I don't agree with it, but I understand their fears. Frankly, I don't care if you have a case of hand grenades and a dirty bomb under your bed. It's not really any of my business. I have what is considered, a rather extreme opinion of weapon rights, and I understand if even members of the pro Second Amendment crowd would disagree with me on some points. So if I were to engage with every person who disagrees with me on this topic, I'd probably never get any sleep.

However, sometimes I encounter an opinion so asinine, that I can't help but take a swing at it. Such is this recent Huffington Post article by Michelle Kraus (no relation to yours truly), titled “America is Nervous-We Must Lay Down Our Arms”. The title alone is nauseating, and I can't get past the first paragraph without taking a shot of vodka. Hopefully I won't be wasted by the time we finish, so let's make this quick. She begins by saying:

There are far too many loose guns floating around the United States of America. What are we doing? This is not the world our forefathers conceived when they wrote the Second Amendment. Violence begets violence, and with no reasonable measures for arms control, our country is rapidly becoming militarized. The police are reacting to threats.

Oh. The police are reacting to threats are they? Like all those gentle dogs they can't stop shooting? Or those homeless people who have been beaten, or even executed by the police? Or how about shooting senior citizens with bean bags? I sure feel safe knowing the police are “reacting to threats” for me. And what exactly is the author suggesting here? That arms control is somehow going to demilitarize the police?

Every angry or troubled soul could be carrying a concealed weapon and usually is.

What's you're definition of an angry and troubled soul? Isn't that a little vague? I mean, I feel angry and troubled after reading your article, and I've never concealed a gun on my person. Read “police reacting to threats” to find out why.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we have the right to bear arms per the Second Amendment, but that was signed into law way before assault rifles were even a glimmer on the horizon. We are at an impasse in our country, society and culture, and must find a way to resolution.

Ya well they couldn't have predicted things like the internet or even radio. Should we do away with the first amendment, just because the medium it is used on has changed since the 18th century?

Indeed guns are part of large sectors of our country often passed down through the generations -- father to son. But it seems that our reality has changed. Too many novices are running wild and getting access to high powered weaponry. Last week, another young, white mentally impaired woman was killed by the police right in San Jose, California. The weapon she was brandishing turned out to have been a power drill that had been painted to look like an assault weapon.

Wait a minute. What's the connection between unstable people attaining firearms, and a woman painting a drill to look like a gun? That story sounds more like she was attempting a “suicide by cop”. What's your angle here?

Maybe, if the culture wasn't running wild with illegal guns, the murder rate and gang activity so high in this locale -- the police would have reacted differently. Yikes we sure don't know and thank goodness don't have to make those decisions every day.

Are you for real? I know I criticize the police a lot, but that woman painted a somewhat gun shaped object, to look more like a gun, told the police it was a gun, and claimed to be holding her family hostage. Police training is pretty uniform across the nation, so she stood a pretty good chance of being shot in any neighborhood. This has absolutely nothing to do with bad guys getting illegal firearms.

Look, the economy is still in the toilet for many Americans. Times are tough and income inequality still prevails. Funds have been cut from mental health services in many states, and unfortunately many are going untreated -- proverbially falling through the cracks. Americans are nervous in this world of troubles. What's going to happen to them? Is the US going back to war? And if so where -- Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East, or even Russia? Will folks be able to afford gasoline if this happens? Why are hybrids so expensive?

Jesus. You decide to ramble on about the problems our world is facing, and you think the cost of a hybrid is one of them? You must be reading the Huffington Post more than you write for them.

Is the next airplane going to fall from the sky and where? What does it take to stay safe and keep your family safe? Sadly, this is the environment that allows racism and prejudice to fester and get a toe hold to dig in.

So you're going lump the price of gasoline and foreign wars, with income inequality and mental health services. I had no idea that those were the key factors that turn good Americans into rabid xenophobes. Quick, somebody call the Nobel Foundation. Michelle Kraus has once and for all, ended racism in America.

Certainly, we know that we have got tough choices coming down the road. Turning the police into soldiers is not the answer as evidenced in Ferguson, Missouri, nor is denying generational family traditions. But maybe there's just an opening big enough to consider enacting the simplest of laws that control the supply chain of weapons in this country.

I'll give the author this. There's one thing that is consistent throughout the article. She wants the citizens as well the police to be disarmed or “demilitarized” in some capacity. I still don't agree with it, but at least it's consistent. Ideology aside, let's get down to practical matters. So you want citizens to give up their weapons, but you want a demilitarized police to enforce it? The gun culture is pretty hardcore Michelle. They're not giving up anything. The level of non-compliance among gun owners is astounding. As seen in Connecticut and New York earlier this year, the vast majority of gun owners (including many law enforcement officials) have refused to go along with stricter mandates.

And on the police side of things, I'm not so sure that you even know why our police have become so militarized. Look at every other country that has become a police state. They arm and train their police to become soldiers and warriors rather than peacekeepers, because the government isn't interested in peace. They're preparing to deal with non-compliant citizens of all kinds, including gun owners. Your vision of a meagerly armed population and a demilitarized police force are about as pleasant as Prozac, and just as far removed from reality.

You know, we lived through Prohibition, and now track liquor and its sale.

Ya, but unlike guns, I don't see the government putting serial numbers on bottles of Jack, telling me how many shots I'm allowed to have, or demanding a 10 day waiting period on every purchase. I mean, alcohol kills more people a year than firearms do, but does it sound reasonable to restrict it the same way you would with guns? If you know anything about prohibition, then the answer should be no.

Marijuana is leaning toward legalization around the country. Can't we step back from the random acts of violence in our streets, towns and cities?

Do you think most acts of violence are random? No wonder you support gun control. You actually believe that without the guns, there would be less violence. Like If somebody has a gun, and they just have some random urge to kill, now they can do it with a gun? Is that where all this crime is coming from?

This might be the time to take action on gun control safety, and really turn a search light on what's become of our public safety officers. We have to do better than this.

Well you go take action on gun control, and I'll go pick flowers or something, because I don't have a single worry in the world. If the rest of the gun control movement can argue as persuasively as you do, then I have no fears of ever losing my rights.

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