The biggest single problem with guns in this country is that we are unable to have a conversation about them that doesn\u2019t degenerate into bumper stickers.<\/p>\n
Now, I\u2019ll say up front, I like guns. I like the feel as the weapon settles in the hand, I like the noise and the push of recoil and the smell of burnt power which authors call cordite but which isn\u2019t. I like the catharsis of watching targets fall and the zen like concentration of lying prone with a support sling wrapped around your arm, plotting shots in a range book as you methodically make adjustments to bring your rounds onto a target five hundred yards away.<\/p>\n
I understand that people have lawful, legitimate reasons to own guns, and I think that guns run deep in our culture. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s reasonable to suggest banning them all, and it\u2019s not like making meth illegal made it all go away.<\/p>\n
But I think, on the other hand, we have to admit that guns are dangerous. They\u2019re designed to be dangerous, at least to stuff downrange. And they\u2019re dangerous to friends, family and neighbors of any careless, sloppy or just plain dumb operator.<\/p>\n
Now, people argue that more people are killed with cars or baseball bats or bad sushi every year than with guns. This is true. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s also true that we regulate the shit out of motor vehicles, sports equipment and food. And unless you are being completely disingenuous, you have to admit that nobody has ever walked into a shopping mall with a hammer and racked up a double digit body count.<\/p>\n
Any and all regulation is by definition an infringement on freedom. But we routinely accept large amounts of it because it makes sense. You expect your electrician to be licensed so your house doesn\u2019t burn down. You expect your daycare to do background checks on the people who watch your kids.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think any of us feels that letting a legally blind man with a DUI and a seizure disorder drive an overweight tractor trailer with defective brakes over the speed limit without any sleep is just letting him exercise his freedom.<\/p>\n
So why is it so unthinkable to suggest that maybe a criminal background check is warranted before we let a person buy an AK-47? Why is it un-American to question your lawful purpose in buying a 100 round drum magazine for your assault rifle. Do you even need an assault rifle? Do you plan to suppress the deer so your hunting buddy can get to hand grenade range?<\/p>\n
So I think it time\u2013actually far beyond time\u2013 that we start treating firearms like really dangerous stuff like motor vehicles or dairy products and put some sensible regulations in place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The biggest single problem with guns in this country is that we are unable to have a conversation about them that doesn\u2019t degenerate into bumper stickers. Now, I\u2019ll say up front, I like guns. I like the feel as the weapon settles in the hand, I like the noise and the push of recoil and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11,14,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guns","category-politics","category-tin-foil-hats"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.inkandbourbon.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.inkandbourbon.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.inkandbourbon.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.inkandbourbon.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.inkandbourbon.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.inkandbourbon.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.inkandbourbon.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.inkandbourbon.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.inkandbourbon.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}