Not that anyone’s amused by the shootings. It’s the fallout that’s amusing – and oh, so predictable – in an infuriating kind of way. First, they blamed the guns. Now it’s “stand your ground” laws. The connection? None that I can see, really. Their solution: “stronger” gun laws that hardly affect the bad guys but make life a lot more difficult for legal and wannabe legal gun owners . . .
“(Washington CeaseFire President Ralph) Fascitelli recommends these solutions: Allow cities to create their own gun legislation which might be tougher than state laws:
Translation: create a patchwork of laws that are impossible for the ordinary gun owner to comply with or keep track of.
Make it illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to own a handgun with a first offense resulting in a mandatory 24 hours in jail;
Because even though 18-year-olds are legally adults, they really don’t have any need to defend themselves.
Close the “gun show loophole” that creates a secondary market for weapons;
Seriously, how many guns are bought at gun shows from non-FFL holders? And how many actually end up being used in crimes?
Launch a public health campaign informing people that guns don’t make residents safer.
Any support for that statement, Ralph? Didn’t think so.
Luckily, quickly skimming the comments indicates that at least most people aren’t buying it. But restricting your Constitutional rights just isn’t enough for some people. Hubert Locke, Dean Emeritus of the Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington, also finds it necessary to insult a large portion of the country in his anti-Stand Your Ground screed.
I was prepared to attribute the Stand Your Ground legislative madness to Florida’s unfortunate proximity to the Deep South and its cultural backwardness until I made the horrid discovery that Washington – where I spend the other half of my waking moments – has a Stand Your Ground law as well! So much for geo-political stereotyping!
But why stop at bigotry? Might as well add a little opinionated fortune-telling disguised as “common sense” into the mix.
More to the point, in the wave of the idiotic shootings that have plagued Seattle over the past several weeks, it’s only a matter of time before some trigger-happy lamebrain tries to invoke Washington’s Stand Your Ground law in his or her defence (sic).
In the rarefied air of academe, defending yourself from serious injury or death makes you a trigger-happy lamebrain. Happy Thursday, lamebrains!