Gun nuts are going after your children

Here’s your dose of insanity for the day. Brian Jeffs and Nathan Nephew have just published a book extoling the virtues of open carry, and it’s aimed (sorry) at kids.

"Before writing this, we looked for pro-gun children's books and couldn't find any," say the authors, who, I can only guess, would be surprised to learn there aren’t any children’s books about parents carrying chainsaws or flame throwers, either.

Imagine the family sitting around the dinner table and Mother turns to her ten-year old daughter.

“I saw you with your nose in a book, Emily. What are you reading?”

“Oh, it’s a book about how cool it is to wear a gun to the mall.”

“A gun? At the mall?”

“Sure. Can I get one? Please, please, please? Cindy said her parents are getting her a gun that’s pink.”

Beyond the crazed content, the illustration on the cover looks like Ned Flanders’ family on vacation in Zombieland.

When children run the nursery

Former Representative Gabrielle Giffords wrote an editorial for the New York Times expressing her disappointment in the Senate vote shortly after the attempt to expand background checks failed on Capital Hill. Their bile agitated, the usual right-wing suspects assaulted the survivor of gun violence from all angles, spewing personal attacks that questioned not merely her judgment, but her sanity. Of all the repulsive verbiage hurled at Giffords by the chorus of cowards, one word from Kevin D. Williamson’s tirade in the National Review Online stood out to me: Childish. Childish?

No sir, being childish is wanting to play cowboys and Indians beyond the age of 8 or 9.

Being childish is believing that more guns in the hands of more people will make America a safer place.

Being childish is throwing a temper tantrum and holding your breath every time someone utters the phrase “reasonable gun control.”

Being childish means you see the world in black and white, good and bad. Adults understand there are subtleties, shades of grey and trade-offs.

Being childish is to misunderstand the difference between justice and vengeance. Adults understand the distinction.

Being childish is being Ted Nugent.

Gun (debate) Control

Solid, straightforward, factual article in today’s Mother Jones refuting the top 10 pro-gun arguments you hear from the NRA and others. One of the problems in America with trying to have a reasonable debate on gun control is that the media, both FOX News and the mainstream outlets, allow opponents of gun restrictions to make outrageous claim after outrageous claim without challenging them to provide any research or data to back up their assertions. If you are not a well-informed viewer and you hear someone with a position of authority in the NRA or a congressperson make a statement as if it is a proven fact, you might be inclined to believe it is true. Anyway, the article is worth a read.