I was catching up on my “Big Picture with Thom Hartmann” from yesterday and he had on a pro-gun defense lawyer to discuss the Treyvon Martin case. After waffling about there “not being not enough information” to make an arrest, Hartmann asked him about the legitimacy of Florida’s so-called “Stand your ground” law and whether it does anything other than give vigilantes an excuse to blow someone away. Rather than address the very serious ramifications of allowing citizens to shoot first, ask questions never, the lawyer defaulted to that time worn hysterical rant: “You can’t use this case to take away people’s guns! It’s in the Constitution! It’s sacred! The Founders wanted us armed!”
And this is the level of discourse in this country. Even on my liberal FB page, even suggesting limits on gun ownership (for instance, banning extended clips or Uzis, both of which exist solely for the purpose of killing in quantity) is met with astonishment. It’s as if the very idea is toxic. Yet, we already place limits on what weapons civilians can own. I can’t buy a rocket launcher or a tank. Why not? Because it presents an immediate danger to the public and serves exactly zero function in self-defense or hunting. But I can buy a fully automatic machine gun…why, exactly?
As usual, I expect the conversation from this post to devolve into the same argument the lawyer used. I don’t want your handguns with regular clips, I don’t want your hunting rifle or shotguns. I want people not to be able to buy a gun that can level a McDonald’s in 20 seconds. I want people that have certain kinds of criminal records (murder and assault come to mind) or a history of mental disorder to not be able to buy guns. I want laws that encourage you to “defend yourself” against an unarmed teenager to not exist. If the best response you can come up with is “You can’t take my guns! I have a Constitutional right” or “That’s a slippery slope! You’ll keep passing laws until it’s illegal to own guns!” then I pity you.
Gun enthusiasts are incredible pathetic (scared of their own shadow) not to mention completely naive. They are terrified that Obama is coming for their guns. PLEASE! Do they not know that the government has nuclear weapons??? Rifles, hand guns, machine guns or even rocket launchers will not save their pathetic hypertensive, diabetic oxygen dependent lives if the government ever decided to wage war on its own people. I work with christian conservatives who can’t even walk a mile without getting short of breath. But they own tons of firearms because they are deathly afraid the government (OBAMA) is determined to take their precious guns away. PATHETIC! Not to mention sad. Weapons of mass destruction owned by the Chinese and Pakistan and possibly Iran, Is what keeps me awake at night. But republicans are too worried about OBAMA, Mexicans and women.