One way to not get shot: Just bury your head in the sand!
Oh, Michael… the fact that you think gun control is “absolutely ridiculous” is, well, absolutely ridiculous.
As a guy who was brought up watching a lot of movies and TV shows, I’m guilty of viewing the world through the lens of pop culture, so I’m going to go with what I know here.
For you, and the folks who think like you, to see what is going on in this country today (and in the past 20 years or so) when it comes to gun violence and not think it’s time to make serious moves on stemming the number of mass shootings, it reminds me of the movie “The Naked Gun.”
In the movie, a comedy starring Leslie Neilsen and O.J. Simpson (before the murders), Lt. Frank Drebin is investigating a crime when he stumbles into a bad situation and somehow manages to catch the bad guys while setting off a series of explosions, including fireworks.
As the rockets go off and there are sparks and booms everywhere, a crowd gathers to see the spectacle.
Drebin stands in front of them, calmly proclaiming “Move along. Nothing to see here. Please disperse,” all the while, the carnage is unfolding in the background behind him.
That’s what you’re doing here, Michael, in claiming we don’t need better gun control. I think back to “Star Wars” after Luke and Han shoot up a bunch of Imperial Stormtroopers and one of the bad guys calls over the intercom asking about the gunfire. “We’re fine, everything’s fine. How are you?” Han says, knowing that everything is, in fact, not fine.
And when it comes to gun violence in America, everything is not fine.
So, what are we to do? Well, you mention Beto O’Rourke and Amy Klobuchar visiting Arkansas recently, bringing with them their anti-gun presidential platforms. Now, let’s be real for a minute… neither of these candidates have a legitimate shot at getting the Democratic nomination in 2020. Beto might have had a shot, but he tripped out of the starting gate and in a field this crowded, he’s not going to recover. But they do bring up the very valid point that something must be done to limit access by dangerous people to dangerous firearms.
Michael, you make the often-used claim that criminals “don’t obey the laws that we already have in place.”
But that’s statistically inaccurate. Gun laws are effective. That’s why nearly 40,000 people died from gunshot wounds last year instead of 400,000. And yes, you read that right. In the United States of America, 39,773 people were shot and killed in 2018. That’s more than the combined population of Marion and West Memphis. Another argument you come at this with is the gun violence in Chicago. Somehow, you guys have convinced yourself this is a valid argument. “Mass shootings are bad, but these liberal strongholds like Chicago have shootings every day!” Yeah, so?
The best part is where you play the “What About?”
lightning round, invoking the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Boston marathon bombing, the serial bombings in Austin, Texas… you want to throw in the Jonestown Massacre and Hurricane Katrina while you’re at it?
It’s time to get real. I’m actually a gun rights advocate.
I see nothing wrong with owning firearms for personal protection, hunting or just sport shooting. What I see is a problem with access. It should be very, very hard to get a gun. Guns should be registered and unregistered guns should be confiscated. You can’t drive an unregistered car and you can’t drive without a driver’s license. We manage to keep that under control, so why shouldn’t we hold the same scrutiny to the ownership and operation of deadly weapons?
Or, back to pop culture, think about comedian Chris Rock, who said, “We don’t need gun control in America… We need some bullet control! Make bullets cost $5,000 each. That way, if somebody gets shot, you know they probably deserved it.”
