There is a significantly sized, significantly obnoxious segment of the population who believes that the solution to gun violence is to have more guns, and that the second amendment means you can and should have any kind of weapon you want in any location at any time. I have a major problem with this. It’s not because I want to ban all guns. It’s not because being allowed to do a thing doesn’t necessarily imply that it’s appropriate, though I do believe that. It’s also not because a scenario in which there are too many “good guys with guns” is likely to turn into a circular firing squad and get a bunch more people killed, although I believe that as well.
It’s because this culture of “all guns, all places, at all times” is akin to crying wolf.
There was a time in my life where a person who was sitting at Taco Bell eating a Cheesy Gordita Crunch when a dude with a gun walked in, could reasonably infer that the place was going to get robbed and/or shot up and make an informed decision about the course of action to take (hide, run away, call the cops, get ready to fork over their wallet, etc.). It’s getting to the point now where you can’t do that anymore, because there are enough rubes out there who think that just because it’s their God-given ‘Murican Right to bring an AR-15 to the salad bar that they totally should bring an AR-15 to the salad bar. The natural assumption is no longer that someone is going to be threatened with the gun; we all just default to “this is some douche canoe trying to make a political statement, so I can just go about my business”. The problem is when you’re wrong and get shot in the face.
Imagine sitting in a college campus library, and you look out the window and see someone strolling across the parking lot with an assault rifle slung over his shoulder. You might rightfully assume that this person was here to murder a bunch of people. You could call the cops, but the cops can’t do anything — open carry is now allowed on campus! The person with the gun is just a law-abiding “patriot” who isn’t breaking any rules or giving the cops a reason to hassle them. Until somebody actually gets shot, the police cannot deter the shooter. Never mind the fact that by then it’s too late.
“Gun Control” is a squishy subject. There’s this belief floating around that “the government” has some sort of a concrete, well-formulated plan that they would spring into action if the NRA and a handful of Republican congressman would just get out of the way. The fact is that there is no plan, and different people have vastly different ideas of what “gun control” might involve.
In my view, a good start would be if gun owners weren’t fucking idiots and handled their guns more responsibly, whether that needs to be mandated by law or just beating them with some common fucking sense. Keep your guns put away and secure. Don’t buy a bunch of stupid fucking toys that have no purpose other than 1) they’re “cool” and 2) make it easier to kill more people in a crowd. And for fuck’s sake, don’t carry your gun around with you every goddamn place you go as if everyone who sees it is going to think it means you have a huge dick. Just stop.
Hammer & Icicle 