I won't go into the details of the many massacres that have taken place recently. Someone gets a hold of guns and goes on a shooting rampage. Many die, politicians pontificate, news outlets let out the public anguish, and nothing happens. After all, the right to bear arms is constitutionally protected. Heck, all you girly men, Arnold even has his own tank. Can these killings be stopped?
The pro-gun lobby makes some valid points. A old grandmother home alone is vulnerable. With a gun, she isn't as vulnerable. An ironically a pro-conservation argument gun aficionados make is that all those hunting licenses gives the government the revenue it needs to maintain wild America (wild, in this case, being the animal fauna). And then of course the grand daddy of them all, that armed citizens are the best guarantee against a totalitarian government, though I wonder if ardent viewers of such intellectually stimulating shows such as day time talk shows should be allowed to be in the vicinity of firearms.
So how would gun advocates circumvent gun toting mass murderers? By arming everyone. In schools, busses, trains, malls, parks, you name it. Guns everywhere. Just like in the Wild West. Lets see how that would work.
Jim and Tom are two kids, playing. Each has a gun. They get into a fight. In the old days, fisticuffs. In the new gun era, shooting, and one is dead or wounded. Multiply that by millions (the number of children in school) and you have coffin makers busier than ammunition manufacturers.
Jane is driving to work and someone cuts her off. In the old days, honking, maybe the middle finger. In the new gun era, bang-bang and you have many fatalities as one car flips over and crashes into others. Multiply that by millions (of commuters) and you have a whole new meaning to traffic jam.
Thanksgiving holiday sales, and Dick and Harry want the same last video game on sale. Who's on first, or who's quicker on the draw? Or how about the security guard who tries to stop an armed shoplifter and ended up stopping lead instead?
Didn't get that promotion? Don't like what the boss said, or the annoying colleague? Like Clint Eastwood, no need to talk (even to an empty chair) - let the gun do the talking. Its so much easier, and final.
The nation will be obsessed, trigger happy, and neurotic. Know one will know when they could be shot, by whom, and under what circumstances. It would be horrible for the nation, though great for gun makers and coffin makers. And of course, makers of anti-psychotics. We as a nation will surely need that.
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