Well thank you Joe the Plumber. That's who gave us this treat of a quote that is the headline of this diary.
It didn't take them long this time, did it? This is the sort of thing that makes you wail at humanity's ability to completely liquefy empathy.
While we're at it, let's not stop at reminding America just how much more important that 2nd Amendment is than the rest of the Constitution (show me the democracy in that, if you please). Never mind that many of these gun-obsessed are dishonest, and are cloaking an irrational fear and paranoia with the Constitution.
Or - since this latest shooter found his mental illness rooted in extreme misogyny and the objectifying of women, let's all blame his problems on the feminist movement.
Finally my favorite: If we all had more guns, somebody could have killed the shooter before he killed anybody. Chaos theory, anyone?
Bottom line: This was another tragic act, perpetrated by a young, mentally ill person, who was able to get his hands on a weapon he should not have been able to use.
So while the right raves on, here's what gives me hope: The common sense movement to blunt this insanity is growing. I watched Richard Martinez last night - in the midst of his grief as the parent of one of the UCSB victims yes - but clearly, logically and repeatedly telling the world that the lack of gun control legislation is a huge problem and pointing the finger - appropriately - at where the blame for that lies.
We are losing a generation to gun violence. All the parents who have lost a child to it know it, those of us on this site know it and the vast majority of Americans know it. It's a long haul because the gun lobby is particularly powerful, but our government will bend to the will of the majority. It always does. And the louder the voices grow, the more quickly it will happen.
Oh, and Joe the Plumber? The basic right for anybody's child to not get shot most certainly trumps your 2nd Amendment rights. If you actually had the intellect to read up on constitutional law (or maybe the other amendments), you'd see that one is pretty clear. So shut the fuck up.