When it comes to picking a place to eat, have y'all ever had that (girl/boy/annoying)friend that shoots down suggestion after suggestion without ever having the mind to suggest a replacement? It's rather annoying when it happens, and I feel like that's where a lot of people stand with regards to gun control today - a strong unwillingness to even hear out any proposed solution.
Where my analogy falls apart is that, when it comes to dining, a decision is always eventually made and food is obtained. When it comes to guns, though, the seemingly inevitable outcome is that... nothing happens. Which is really strange to me, because, y'know, in December of 2012, after 20 six- and seven-year-old children were gunned down AT SCHOOL, the country didn't do shit (Sandy Hook). Which really goes to show how we value our education, our children, and our guns (unfortunately).
I am now realizing that what first looked to me like inertia/laziness (which is already appalling: you seriously can't give enough fucks to protect children?? I hate to say it, but as Helen Lovejoy put it: won't somebody please think of the children!?) is, even more tragically, willful obstinance and cowardice. In a recent discussion I had with this older man, when I threw out a proposal on how to deal with guns, he said something along the lines of "It doesn't matter, it's not gonna solve the problem. You're trying to solve a problem that can't be solved!"
& boy, if we weren't in a public setting playing cards - I would have lost it. I mean shoot, I'm writing about this because, internally/mentally, I DID lose it! I would have (and should have) asked him when he lost his spine. If you're someone who agrees that this is a problem that can't be solved, don't stop reading: you're a craven, unimaginative sack of meat, and you should be ashamed of yourself. If we're still going with my analogy from before about eating out: I've just uninvited you. The rest of us are going somewhere to eat, but you can't come - no food for someone who wants to drag the rest of us down with hopelessness and despair. If you don't have the mind to propose a solution and the conviction to stick with it, you're the exact type of nonparticipant that ruins democracy. You shirk the obligations of citizenship while reaping the benefits paid for by previous generations. It absolutely kills me that there are enough people in this city, county, state, and country with the same mindset that little, if anything, has been done regarding guns. You dopes are so self-defeating that you've lost any will to try - look in the mirror and ask yourself when you became so gutless, 'cause it's honestly disgusting.
Now that I've got my rant in, I can move on: if you read back over this post, you'll notice I didn't spell out my proposal or advocate any particular position. That's not the purpose of this post - I'll write about that in Part 2. Before I do, I just want you to think enough to answer this question: if you were the POTUS, US Congress, and Supreme Court rolled into one mega power-wielding authority, how would you deal with the issue, and why?
The honest truth is, if you haven't set aside even 5-10 minutes to think about this policy issue, YOU are contributing to the death of shooting victims in this country (similar to those Germans that weren't Jew-hating Nazis but, y'know, weren't going to do anything about the Holocaust either). & before I let go of your attention, I want to take it one step further: the exercise does not end with you thinking about the issue. You are morally obligated to make a decision - as in, if you had a gun pointed to your head, you better be able to commit to your story, whichever way you happen to swing.
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