Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Guns

Once again the republicans with no other solutions have dug into their bag to look for an issue any issue to promote their party. Slipped into the credit card bill in the house was a little section that permits guns in national parks. Unless you're afraid that Smokey the bear is going to eat you instead of telling you to extinguish that open campfire I see no real reason to take a gun to a national park. Don't get me wrong I'm not against guns but there is a time and a place for their use. I foresee only bad things coming from this legislation.

Now for another kicker. Texas is passing a law that would permit guns on campus. It really has nothing to do with safety when you stop to think of the possabilities. Considering that most people have varing degrees of expertise in the use of firearms this presents some unnerving situations. I'm an expert shot myself but I sure wouldn't want to face a Columbine situation on a college campus. The thought of one error in judgment far outweighs any safety gains. I'm sure you can picture future Texas headlines. Drunk student shoots up dorm. Despondent student shoots self. College is a place for learning not a place for worrying about being caught in a cross fire by a disgruntled student.

11 comments:

pygalgia said...

Chipmunks, my friend. Those little buggers are nasty. Even an AK-47 might not be enough if there's a pack of 'em.

Jim Marquis said...

Ironic that the state where the Texas tower shootings took place would consider this kind of legislation...

Anonymous said...

Or, as the cop said when I was telling him that I rarely carry my gun anymore; he said "I can picture the headlines now....woman killed while carrying her gun permit: gun at home."

The Blog Fodder said...

Demeur, as I told Dana, as long as Americans use their guns to only kill each other in America, they should all be issued AK-47's at birth... Funny thing, the first thing sherrifs did in the old west was to geta town bylaw that made people check their guns inside city limits. Reduced killings dramatically.

BBC said...

Unless you're afraid that Smokey the bear is going to eat you instead of telling you to extinguish that open campfire I see no real reason to take a gun to a national park...

Haven't spent much time in national parks or read some of the news that at times goes on in them?

Not too long ago a park ranger lady got shot here, dead. If she had been packing a gun she might still be alive.

Damn right I pack a gun in national parks, always have, always will. I can assure you that in any full campground in a national park that you could form a small army.

Most folks in the parks are very peaceful people like me, but that doesn't mean they/me are going to put up with others fucking with them.

As for being around large groups of other monkeys, no, I don't normally pack a gun. But I do consider what I can hide behind.

What is the correct answer for collages, I'm not sure, but a return to the old west seems in order.

After all, it is what tamed the west, more or less. I would never be the first to draw a gun out of anger but when some other whips out a monkey a gun and starts shooting at others and I had one with me you can bet that I would pull mine and take that monkey out if I could.

And being an expert shot I would stand a good chance of that. I pretty much hate guns, but I do know how to shoot well no one wants to fuck with me or those I love because one of us is going to die.

BBC said...

Oh, one piece of advice, never, ever pack a gun unless you are willing to pull the trigger to take out a troublesome monkey. If it's just a bluff you will end up dead. I'm with Clint Eastwood on this.

BBC said...

You can tell others to check their guns, like in the old west, but back then most monkeys carried their guns in plain sight.

Most guns are hidden these days so you would have to check everyone.

Besides, it wasn't checking guns that tamed the west. It was killing the bad guys and putting them on public display to discourage other wanna be bad guys that mostly tamed it.

BBC said...

That and outright fire power.

It's always been true that if guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns.

Tom Harper said...

I'm just as glad about this gun amendment guns in national parks. I'm in between about guns myself; I don't own one but I don't think they're the big menace that too many liberals think they are. This new gun law will give the rightwingers one less issue to rouse the rabble with. Millions of gun owners have gone into hysterics about "Obama's gonna take our guns away!" Maybe the paranoia can be dialed down a little.

Pygalgia's comment is obviously satire, but there really was an opinion just like that in the Port Angeles paper a few weeks ago, and that person wasn't kidding. This guy was actually saying you need a gun to protect yourself from wild animals if you go into a national park.

BBC said...

I'm not with Tom Harper (not his real name) that you have to worry about wild animals in the national parks and should pack a gun to protect yourself from them.

Not that they can't be a concern but the 25 semi automatic I pack isn't likely to stop a bear anyway, they are tough and it can take a lot to stop them and they are the animal most likely to attack you in a park.

I'm more concerned about the few crazy monkeys out there that may do me harm. Hum, maybe I should get a good 22 long rifle hand gun, seven 22 slugs will stop most any monkey.

And would take down a deer at a 200 hundred feet if you needed something to eat.

But a 25? Na, you couldn't hit a Boeing hanger with a 25 at 200 feet with one. They are worthless at more than five feet, okay size slug, but not enough powder behind it.

S.W. anderson said...

I'm not anti-guns, but I have problems with NRA fanatics. Some of them would raise hell if obliged to remove their gun when using the john or taking a shower.

From what I heard awhile back, the big reason the gun crowd wants to be able to arm themselves in national parks is because they perceive the parks as places where criminals prey on unsuspecting and unarmed tourists.

Plus, I'm sure some of them fear that if they don't get this law in place, it will only be a matter of time before a liberal, gun-hating foe of their sacred Second Amendment rights become president and make the entire U.S. a national park, thereby making it illegal for them to tote their most treasured possession anywhere.