January 18, 2013 5:46 AM

So you say you wanna be a troll?

Day Two: The brilliant yellowish-orange orb in the sky continues to torment me. I can only hope that I’ll be able to hold out long enough for the dreary greyness to once again establish itself and return a sense of normalcy to the northern end of the Willamette Valley….

Part of the reason (besides the fact that writing is my passion) I continue to live in this space is that I enjoy the occasional give and take. I have some pretty strong opinions (no surprise there); occasionally someone will take me to task being (take your pick) ignorant, ill-informed, Commie scum, a clueless Libtard, or just plain wrong. I’ve had far worse tossed at me over the past 12 years, but that says less about me than it does the verbal bomb throwers out there. Let’s face it; if someone is so threatened by what I have to say that they’ll resort to name-calling, insults, or WAY too many column inches in a determined effort to “prove” me wrong, I must be doing something right, eh?

Look, I don’t necessarily KNOW that I’m right; I believe I am, and that’s why I write what I do. When it comes to gun control, I’m not going to apologize for being someone who would like to see the 2nd Amendment go the way of powdered wigs. My personal (very strong) opinion is that what the UK did in the wake of the 1996 school massacre in Dunblane, Scotland was spot on. With few exceptions, it’s illegal to own firearms in the UK. The same should be true here.

Why am I so supportive of that? Well, one need look no further then the number of gun deaths annually in the UK since Dunblane. We’re talking 40 (give or take_…or a bit less than the number of Americans who die from gun violence IN TWO DAYS. And you’re going to tell me that the ONLY way to make America safe is to arm every man, woman, and child, and to make assault weapons available to anyone who wants them…along with high-capacity magazines? No questions asked?

I don’t know what kind of America you want, but I don’t want to live in a country defined and ruled by fear. I don’t want to live in a country where I have to even consider the possibility that some testosterone-deficient man-child may accidentally loose a round or two in my direction because he feels “threatened” by something or someone.

I understand that the 2nd Amendment isn’t going to go away, and while I’m saddened that we can’t be that forward-thinking, I understand the cultural context involved. Some folks just don’t feel complete, they just don’t feel in full possession of their manhood, without the ability to deal deadly force close at hand.

The 2nd Amendment, shall not be infringed. Not a smaller magazine. Not an inch longer barrel. Not a different color. Not a different local. No license. no permit. No bans from anywhere within the US. No infringements of any kind. I repeat. “Shall not be infringed”. What is so hard to understand about that?

I’ve grown tired of trying to debate with gun nuts so thoroughly and completely inflexible that they refuse to budge from the premise that the 2nd Amendment is immutable, unalterable, and sacrosanct. It’s a tiresome and ridiculous argument, and I’m beginning to feel as if I’m pounding my head against a wall. The only thing that’s happening is that I’m getting a headache and I need a Band-Aid.

I realize that there are millions of decent, responsible gun owners out there who don’t view firepower as a cure for impotence. I was raised by one. Here’s the problem, though; the millions of responsible gun owners have remained disturbingly silent while the paranoid, conspiracy-theorist nutjobs have hijacked the debate. How does one have a rational discussion with the “You can have much guns when you pry them from my cold, dead fingers” cabal? How does one reason with Alex Jones, Ted Nugent, Larry Pratt, Wayne LaPierre, etc., etc., ad infinitum, ad nauseum?

The short answer is that you can’t reason with folks so inflexibly attached to their “gun rights” that they refuse to entertain the reality that the 2nd Amendment may not be the immutable, unalterable, sacrosanct edict from God they believe it to be. Their interpretation of the 2nd Amendment does not make it so, and no amount of veiled threats and/or impotent bleating will change that. It’s simply not possible to imbue a mere 26 words with such unshakeable certainty. The 2nd Amendment belongs to ALL of us, not just the gun nuts who fancy themselves to be the divinely-appointed Keepers of the Flame.

I’ve enjoyed the give and take on this issue, and I’m fully aware that I’m not going to get everything I believe in. I get that, though I’ll continue to believe that America would be a better and safer place without the 2nd Amendment and with guns laws as stringent as the UK. That doesn’t make me a clueless America-hating Liberal any more than it confers upon gun nuts the mantle of True American Patriotism. I’d like to have a reasoned, rational discuss about common sense gun control, but have you checked out the paranoid conspiracy theorists who run the NRA? They’ve repeatedly stated they will listen to “reasonable” proposals…and by “reasonable,” they mean “no guns will change, EVER…for any reason.” So much for hoping for a reasoned, rational discussion.

Gun nuts need to wake up and face the reality that they’re on the wrong side of history. The majority of Americans favor sensible gun control…and by “sensible,” I mean things like banning assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and armor piercing bullets…as well as making background checks uniform, required without exception, and meaningful.

I’m done debating this issue in the comments. I’ve stated my piece, and despite some folks convincing themselves that smug, self-satisfied arrogance and an avalanche of words in long run-on paragraphs passes for an argument, I’m not going to play that game. You expect me to “post a fact” to support my case, so try this one one: approximately 900 Americans die every month from gun violence. Shouldn’t that be enough?

If that still leaves you unconvinced, I’d submit that you need to get your humanity checked…because you clearly value guns over the lives of children and other civilians. I don’t know how to argue with that sort of unvarnished inhumanity.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on January 18, 2013 5:46 AM.

So that's what a well-regulated militia looks like...or not was the previous entry in this blog.

Sure, you've got the guns and ammo; what about the razor wire and Claymore mines? is the next entry in this blog.

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