Gun Rant

I do not hate guns.

I know, I know, I'm constantly whinging about the evil of the NRA and screaming that politicians who get money from the NRA should be voted out of office. But...

I do not hate guns.

I have fired guns. I have handled guns. I enjoy target shooting. A .22 rifle and a paper target are a joy to me. Handled safely, I have absolutely no problem with guns.

For defense against wildlife in truly wild places, I don't have a problem with slightly higher caliber weapons, responsibly owned by intelligent people. I don't even have an issue with people hunting, as long as they eat what they hunt and follow wildlife expert's advice so animals aren't driven to extinction. I don't really approve of it, and I wouldn't do it myself... I think it's a little childish and disgusting if you can get food in another way... but I'm not going to shame people for it and I'll keep my mouth shut about it. As long as it is done responsibly and legally. After all is said and done, I eat meat and - frankly - the meat I eat is produced in a disgusting way as well. I cannot claim any moral superiority there.

So I do not hate guns.

But I also see that guns should be carefully controlled and maintained, and I see that the "general public" is unable to do so because there are too many people with too many problems. There are always people who go too far, which is why we have to have rules. Some people won't stop until they hit the rules, no matter how much harm they are causing. You cannot leave *anything* completely open and free because someone will always ruin it for everyone else: the whole "this is why we can't have nice things" syndrome.

So limits must be established. The Second Amendment to the US Constitution was never a suicide pact. Reasonable limits are always expected on any freedom. Despite the First Amendment, free speech has reasonable limits on it. This is understood by everyone with even an ounce of brains. The same applies to the Second Amendment.

Right now, the freedom demanded by second amendment extremists is infringing on the freedom of literally every other person in the country by denying us our right to life and pursuit of happiness. It's hard for kids to be happy when any day they go to school might be the day they are slaughtered by a gun nut with an AR-15. People have been murdered by these "well-regulated milita" morons in schools, churches, grocery stores, movie theaters, street festivals... our entire lives are now at risk because some self-important twats decided their personal right to compensate for their own short-comings is more important than every other citizens' right to life.

I do not hate guns, but I hate people who love guns over everything else.

No one needs a weapon of war in their home. If you cannot defend yourself with a .22 you probably aren't intelligent enough to own a water gun, much less an automatic or semi-automatic. The likelihood you'll get yourself shot in a gun battle, probably with your own weapon, is very high if you feel like you *need* an AR-15 to defend yourself. Invest in a baseball bat, instead.

The arguments about defending against a tyrannical government are laughable as well. How long are you going to last against the entire US Army? No, seriously. The fantasies of urban warriors waging a war against the fascist state are just that, fantasy. You stop fascism by stopping it at the ballot box and destroying the propaganda machine that helps drive it - not by feeding into it and becoming the very tyrants you claim to want to defend against. Most gun nuts *are* the fascists they claim they want to bear arms against. They've just been brainwashed into believing they are the good guys. Years of propaganda by the Russian-funded NRA, and Fox propaganda channel have programmed them into being the very thing they hate. And they refuse to see it, because that would mean admitting they are wrong.

I do not hate guns.

But I am tired of people who love guns over their fellow humans. Who love the thought of being some sort of stupid action hero so much that they cannot see the pain they cause. Who worship guns devoutly, send their constant tithes to gun manufacturers and the NRA, who practically pray to their guns and celebrate the deaths of children with little dances on stage at the NRA. I'm tired of them all.

Every day those gun worshippers block reasonable gun control, they drive me further toward more severe gun restrictions. Every time another child, another mother, another cousin, friend, lover dies in a senseless hail of bullets, I want more severe restrictions. Every time I see a politician saying "let's not politicize this" as they turn a crime scene into a gun rally, I want more severe restrictions. Every time I see an NRA member crying that they are the real victims when a fellow gun nut murders someone, I want more severe restrictions.

Every time someone claims these slaughters are false flag operations, I want every single gun nut to be forced to view the crime scene in person and be forced to clean the gore up with their bare hands.

Right now, I'm in favor of reasonable gun control. The Clinton ban on assault weapons should be put back into effect. Other restrictions should be discussed and debated on their merits, not dismissed out of hand by the bought-and-paid for NRA politicians. The longer those politicians block reasonable efforts, the more severe my own position on gun control gets in response.

I do not hate guns. But I'm definitely headed that way, thanks to the NRA and the cult of the gun.