Amongst all the chaos that our great but imperfect human race stirs up, there is, for sure, lots to say and complain about. No shortage of points on which to take a stand, voice an opinion, or "strike a pose." When some debate, however, reaches the watered-down-to-death point of insanity, certainly the sane among us must scream out. Can we, however, inject sanity into the insane? Can we use logic to sway the illogical? Can we rationalize with the irrational? Well, we can sure as hell try. We must, mustn't we?
We have, of late, watered down our all too recently impassioned debate over gun control in our fine land. Mere moths ago, in the wake of unthinkable tragedy, we were committed to real change. Common sense had, briefly, made its way into our national discourse on the matter. Progress was all but a foregone conclusion...
Enter the NRA, the radical right, and gun manufacturers. All three added together (sort of like saying all penguins, flightless arctic birds, and fast-swimming birds added together) making up a relatively small portion of "we, the people." A force, nonetheless, with which to be reckoned.
This force, in fact, was able to completely change, not only the winning and losing side of the debate...but also the debate itself. In just a few short months we went from "ready to pass real change in gun laws and make many weapons and magazines illegal" to "do we really need background checks?" Are you kidding me??!!
It's no joke, though. The "Christian" right gun-lovers have managed to convince our "representatives" that it is just too much to ask to have a waiting period for background checks on every gun bought or sold. The small number of insane among us have convinced leaders of both parties to ignore the 80% - 90% who would otherwise approve of such common sense legislation. And, in so doing, have somehow managed to also cloud their thinking enough to render them stupid.
Case in point: The pet argument of this small group of radicals speaks to their shock and dismay about even the thought of a background check interfering with the "handing down" of a cherished family weapon to a son or a nephew or a grandson. To which the "left" impishly replies: "We can certainly exclude family gifting of guns."
However, as is too often the case, this is just another example of the senseless changing the way the otherwise sensible argue. These family transactions being exempted should NOT be the point of retort. In a sensible, rational, thoughtful world (one in which we are far from living), the appropriate response would be: "Cletus, if your son or nephew or grandson cannot pass a routine background check, then our country, and our country's law abiding citizens, and our country's innocent, defenseless children do not want him having a gun."
A big wish, sadly, for a small bit of sanity.
We have, of late, watered down our all too recently impassioned debate over gun control in our fine land. Mere moths ago, in the wake of unthinkable tragedy, we were committed to real change. Common sense had, briefly, made its way into our national discourse on the matter. Progress was all but a foregone conclusion...
Enter the NRA, the radical right, and gun manufacturers. All three added together (sort of like saying all penguins, flightless arctic birds, and fast-swimming birds added together) making up a relatively small portion of "we, the people." A force, nonetheless, with which to be reckoned.
This force, in fact, was able to completely change, not only the winning and losing side of the debate...but also the debate itself. In just a few short months we went from "ready to pass real change in gun laws and make many weapons and magazines illegal" to "do we really need background checks?" Are you kidding me??!!
It's no joke, though. The "Christian" right gun-lovers have managed to convince our "representatives" that it is just too much to ask to have a waiting period for background checks on every gun bought or sold. The small number of insane among us have convinced leaders of both parties to ignore the 80% - 90% who would otherwise approve of such common sense legislation. And, in so doing, have somehow managed to also cloud their thinking enough to render them stupid.
Case in point: The pet argument of this small group of radicals speaks to their shock and dismay about even the thought of a background check interfering with the "handing down" of a cherished family weapon to a son or a nephew or a grandson. To which the "left" impishly replies: "We can certainly exclude family gifting of guns."
However, as is too often the case, this is just another example of the senseless changing the way the otherwise sensible argue. These family transactions being exempted should NOT be the point of retort. In a sensible, rational, thoughtful world (one in which we are far from living), the appropriate response would be: "Cletus, if your son or nephew or grandson cannot pass a routine background check, then our country, and our country's law abiding citizens, and our country's innocent, defenseless children do not want him having a gun."
A big wish, sadly, for a small bit of sanity.
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