Oooh...Guns! Guns! Guns!

You know, I have really been trying to avoid wading any further into the "great national debate" we are currently in the midst of regarding guns. Yesterday Obama made his speech and the gun enthusiast crowd responded, and continue to respond, in their typical, off-the-deep-end sort of way. It has been fairly terrible to watch un-spool across the internet from online newspaper comment sections, political blogs, and the worst of it on your average Facebook post. The noise is deafening and the mood is sour and the sad truth is that, at least in any of the places I have cared to look, there are no rational, reasoned discussions to be found. Just attack after attack after attack...and rather then post a bunch of links to this article or that evidence report or whatever I just want to address the one aspect of this thing that bugs me the most and that's the gun nuts themselves.

It's not even about the issues they are so very passionate about or whether or not they're right or wrong. It's not about the phoney statistics and the generalized solution to these sorts of problems is more guns in the "right hands." It's about this weird obsessive behavior that prevents any sort of rational discussion. This near sociopath like sickness gun enthusiasts seem to have that causes a fairly soft-ball list of "executive orders" mentioned along with the desire for Congress to re-instate the useless assault weapons ban from the 1990's (which will likely not even pass) can only be equated with, as Hamster put it in all caps in his post earlier today, "THEY ARE COMING FOR YOUR GUNS!" As what seems typical with our friends on the extreme right (or really, so it seems anyway, just 'on the right') is that there is no grey, no middle ground, no meeting anything half way...It's either we can have any and all the guns we want OR They are confiscating all of our guns. There's only ever two extremes, period, and it is nauseating.

You can't even ask the simplest questions, such as, "why do we need assault weapons?" Without getting angry paragraph after angry paragraph about freedom, slippery-slopes, constitutional god given rights and on and on and on and should you press the issue further you will be taken down a rabbit hole not unlike what Hamster posted below. Usually with lots of insults and paranoid references to the New World Order and/or United Nations and doomsday preparations and nine or ten other various "conspiracies." I sometimes wonder if there's some sort of obsessive disorder one can acquire by handling firearms? Maybe there's something in the gun oil or an adverse reaction to gun powder that triggers some bi-polar emotional stress disorder? It would make sense as I know more than a few otherwise competent, rational people who got into guns at some point and then completely lost their damn minds and are unable or unwilling to debate this issue without proverbially frothing at the mouth and spouting all sorts of straw men and false equivalences that the supposed debate may as well be a couple of insane homeless people ranting in the street.

And who, might I rhetorically ask, benefits from all of this? Certainly not the evil "Big Government" and certainly not me or Joe Gun Owner...You follow the money and guess who's at the end of that very substantial green rainbow? Gun manufactures are raking in cash hand over fist this year. AR-15s, other so-called assault rifles, high capacity magazines and ammunition are selling faster than these companies can produce them and gun show attendance is said to have doubled or tripled from this time last year. Why? Because these people are afraid. Afraid they won't be able to get these items anymore and afraid that "someone" will be coming to get the guns they have. Which, incidentally, is why I am not pro-gun ban because it is nothing but a fruitless gesture, may as well try to ban air and say breathing is illegal for all the good it will do. Why are these people so afraid? Well, let's read this e-mail that was sent out earlier today from NRA-ILA (the NRA's lobbying wing) Executive Director Chris Cox :

There are political fires raging across Capitol Hill right now and they’re closing in fast on your Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
President Barack Obama and anti-gun politicians are on an all-out crusade to pass new laws that would: BAN tens of millions of rifles, shotguns and handguns…make it more difficult, expensive, and in some cases, ILLEGAL for you to purchase ammunition…and even FORCE you to register your firearms with the federal government.
Some are even talking about a mandatory gun confiscation and “buyback” program - where you would be forced to hand over your guns in exchange for a government check!
NONE of this would have the slightest impact on making our children, our homes, or our communities safer. And that’s sad, because now more than ever, we need our elected officials to take serious steps toward improving public safety… particularly in our nation’s schools.
But the fact is, despite their statements, the main goal of the gun banners in Congress is not to make schools safer, but to ban your guns and abolish every last sacred right you have under the Second Amendment..until they reduce your freedom to ashes.
Your NRA-ILA is fighting every hour of every day to hold the line, but there is no way we can win without your full and active participation RIGHT NOW.
President Barack Obama recently pledged to raise $20 million to ram his gun ban agenda through Congress. And Obama’s got plenty of rich, gun-hating friends in Hollywood, along with anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who will shower him with the money he needs to strip you of your gun rights.
I don’t have friends like that. I’ve got something much better…YOU. You know what’s at stake. You love your freedom and your country, and I know you’re willing to STAND AND FIGHT to save both of them.
So please, whatever you can afford to give NRA-ILA right now, I need you to do it.
Whether it’s as little as $10, or as much as $150 or more, every single dollar will go toward winning this once-in-a-generation battle to save our Second Amendment freedom. AND EVERY SINGLE DOLLAR YOU GIVE TODAY COUNTS!
Your contributions to NRA-ILA support our fight on your behalf in the halls of Congress and across the country. Your contributions are the lifeblood of our legislative and legal initiatives, research, educational pieces, press activities, and all of our pro-gun advertising and grassroots activism.
There is no other way to put it: Our strength comes from you. Our ability to win comes from you. That’s why I’m asking you to help save our Second Amendment by making NRA-ILA stronger than ever before.
Thank you for everything you do to support NRA-ILA and defend freedom.
Please help as soon as you can.
Sincerely,
Chris

 I remember being handed a piece of NRA propaganda back in 2004 that was a bullet point list of talking points about how, if John Kerry wins the 2004 election, that despite whatever statements he made, "the main goal of John Kerry is to ban your guns and abolish the second ammendment." Or something to that effect. It had all sorts of completely absurd claims about bullet taxes increasing 1000% and naturally a ban on all guns thus taking away all of your rights. It's always framed in the context of an epic battle against the government that has to be won. Almost as if those who are not part of the NRA world are the enemy thus they must be defeated and, I guess, destroyed. In fact, I hear tell that all those evil, hypocritical liberal politicians and their minions are all on an official "enemies list because they're enemies of FREEDOM! Look at the language they use in just that e-mail, "I  know you're willing to STAND AND FIGHT!" or how about that biblical sounding, "...and abolish every last sacred right you have under the Second Amendment..until they reduce your freedom to ashes." Well, holy shit! Not only is my right to bear arms in the constitution it's sacred! We don't need to have assault weapons, God needs us to have them!

And the only way to stop them from FORCING you to sell your guns to the government buyback program and allowing them to make all ammunition illegal and FORCE you to be put on a government registration list  is to SEND THE NRA MONEY! RIGHT FUCKING NOW!!! Are you having a hard time convincing your fellow, misinformed, uneducated, citizens that we need guns to protect our families and our sacred rights? Then please consider purchasing this NRA Education pack complete with educational brochures, videos and a wealth of informative resources to help you help them understand our freedoms! Only $19.95!

And friend, why stop there? Why not join the NRA?! It's only $25 for one year, $50 for two or a mere $70 for three years! Plus if you act today, in addition to a subscription to one of our several, award-winning magazines you can choose a free gift such as an official NRA pocket knife or a NRA camouflage duffel bag useful for hiding your guns in the woods! Our magazines will act as a monthly conduit of the latest firearm information from the newest in Browning rifle stocks to the latest attempt by hypocritical, liberal elitists to turn you and your family into unarmed slaves. How have you come this far in life without it? We will flood your mailbox, inbox, fax machine, voice mail to the limit with our pro-gun, grassroots, down home cookin' and activism! JOIN RIGHT NOW!

Behold:

ELITIST HYPOCRITE!

Don't fall for Obama and his minions' anti-freedom propaganda USE OURS! Self-appointed king of America wants to tyrannically turn America into socialist nazi Germany! Pay no attention that the NRA is actually using similar propaganda tactics to the nazis because Obama and his, "rich, gun-hating friends in Hollywood, along with anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who will shower him with the money he needs to strip you of your gun rights" are trying to wipe away your freedoms BECAUSE THEY HATE THE CONSTITUTION! NEVER MIND THAT THE COMPARING YOUR CHILDREN'S LACK OF ARMED SECURITY TO OBAMA'S CHILDREN'S SECRET SERVICE DETAIL DOESN'T MAKE SENSE AT ALL...HE'S COMING FOR YOUR GUNS AND WE NEED YOUR MONEY TO STOP HIM!?

Then there might be something about violent videogames and Hollywood movies glorifying violence, which is I always thought was their way of trying to get the government to take away liberals' toys so they will finally understand how it feels. After all, if one watches pornography then feels like fucking it must follow that if one watches a violent movie then they must feel like killing, right? You want to argue that point? Oh, well then...YOU OBVIOUSLY DO NOT UNDERSTAND FREEDOM BECAUSE IT STARTS WITH HIGH CAPACITY MAGAZINES TODAY SO NO DOUBT TOMORROW IT'LL BE ALL GUNS!

THEY'RE COMING FOR MY GUNS!!!

UPDATE 1/18/13

It's worth noting that this post went off the rails a bit without making the obvious point that the NRA, and thus it's members, over react in a hyper-passionate, semi-dangerous way. Liberal rag Mother Jones did a nice post collecting all the craziest online here. One of my favorites is the CEO of Tactical Response, James Yeager, who is probably the kind of guy I would cast in my movie called, "Stereotypical gun nut."

"Fuck that. I'm telling you that if that happens it's gonna spark a civil war, and I'll be glad to fire the first shot... I am not letting my country be ruled by a dictator, I'm not letting anybody take my guns. If it goes one inch further, I'm gonna start killing people." 

Sadly, as MJ pointed out in their article, Mr. Yeager had his handgun carry permit suspended by the state. Sad-face, Government 1  James 0. Look through all the other posts; "Obama is a king!" "When will he be impeached?" "He used children JUST LIKE SADDAM HUSSEIN!" It's also worth pointing that a majority of these reactions are to Obama declaring an assault weapons by executive order, which if you are actually paying attention he didn't do, he asked Congress to reinstate that ban from the 1990's which, thinking of the house specifically, seems a real tough nut to crack.

"This is stuff they've always wanted to do, and now this has created the political climate to pursue it." -Marco Rubio

There's that liberal enemy coming after the guns with their manifesto and propaganda, never mind the majority of American people wanted something done, they should have done nothing! No matter that it's all bunk that won't pass, wont work, but they're still so damn mad! Again from that same MJ post:

After telling Fox News that most of Obama's executive orders were ineffectual, meaningless bureaucratic recommendations, the right-wing talk-show host changed his mind: "There are certain things in his executive orders that are un-American. In some ways they’re even fascistic." Goaded on by Neil Cavuto, he continued: "Obama doesn't believe in legislation. He believes in executive fiat...The attempt to nationalize the medical profession, and have doctors reporting their clients to the federal government, this is 1930s stuff. The American people to rise up against that. The medical profession needs to say no."

There's gotta be a revolution! It's the 1930's (which I can only guess he meant Germany in the 1930's) because this ain't mah president and only mah views matter because only mah view of the constitution is correct. Keep screaming my crazy friends, no reason anyone in government need do anything but scream and yell and further divide. Believe the propaganda that makes you the most comfortable.