Yesterday just about my favorite journalist/blogger Charles Pierce had had it. In a post titled "It's Time for 'Law-Abiding Gun Owners' to Earn Their Keep" he said in part (you should read the whole thing):
You know who I am thoroughly sick of hearing about?
Law-Abiding Gun Owners, that’s who.
[....]
I have no more room in my consideration for them, their feelings, or their durable outraged innocence. Most of them are very fine people, I’m sure, but they will have to look somewhere else for consideration. There are no more seats left on my Consideration Bus. There are too many coffins onboard these days.
Honestly I felt dumb reading this, because I had never really thought about this in this manner.
The majority of the people I know (family, friends, clients) are gun owners. “Law-Abiding.” Not asked but thinking there might not be a single AR-15 among them. Or high-capacity magazines.
And frankly many are Republicans. Or very, very moderate Democrats in the mold of Joe Manchin.
My District was Democratic for 60 years straight. Then my 12 term rep retired and somehow now I have a two term Republican. Bat shit crazy. Think he is going to listen to me if I call or write? Not a chance in hell.
But all those I count as family and friends that voted for him, well he might listen if they said, “come on dude, just a few sensible gun laws or if we don’t vote for your opponent we will at least stay home. You know if somebody tells you they can’t wait say a week or two for a gun I question what they are going to do with said gun. Please do something!”
I am close to an open book with the folks I know. When my brother married into a family 10 years ago he was so fearful what I’d say to some of his extended family. Far, far right. Trump folks now.
I am like Jeff I won’t look for a fight, but if I hear “Obama wasn’t born in the US” that shit is not going to go unchallenged, strongly! And of course it happened. And I found myself arguing, not debating with like 15 other adults that think I am loon for thinking Obama was born in Hawaii.
I wrote the last few graphs because I am going to start to ask if they really want that 18 year old kid that lives next to them, you never really liked, to be able to buy an AR-15? You think as a dude that has only fired a small gauge shotgun twice, that I should be able to buy an AR-15? Is this the America you want to live in?
With all that said I have never understood the fetish with guns. But people I care about and in some instance love, well they love their darn guns. I had found room for them in my consideration bus and I gave them passes I should not have.
I’m now firmly with Pierce I got no more room on my consideration bus!