Can’t We Wait?

Today I opened my Facebook page to find an anti-gun control post claiming, among other things, that gun control was responsible for the rise of the Third Reich.   This is an argument so ludicrous that the pro-Second Amendment website, GunCite, includes an article titled The Myth of Nazi Gun Control.  Another offered me a video I just HAD to watch explaining the Second Amendment.  On my way to my Tuesday Night Men’s Meeting, ultra-conservative commentator Mark Levin was ripping President Obama for politicizing the Sandy Hook tragedy.  Of course, the President to some degree earned his scorn by going to a memorial service and delivering what was mostly a policy speech outlining what we, as a nation, need to do.   I have to say, I’m pretty disgusted.

Believe me, I know we need to have serious discussion about gun control, a discussion without exaggeration or nonsensical claims.   There is validity to gun lobby claims that guns save lives as well as take them, although they are frequently distorted in anti-gun control literature.   And it seems pretty clear that some changes in gun laws need to be made as a result of Sandy Hook.  It seems like common sense that limits on automatic weapons and over-sized ammo clips, as well as better background checks, can reduce the likelihood of tragedies like Sandy Hook without affecting guns used for personal protection.  But please, Can’t We Wait until Newtown has buried its children?   Can’t we mourn this tragedy together before we embarrass ourselves with another so-called dialog that consists mostly of shouting over the barricades?   THIS is what this holiday season is about, not gun control.

courtesy http://abcnews.go.com

Suppose we all do this.  Between now and the New Year, we shed our tears and say some prayers for the people of Newtown.  We shut the hell up about gun control and take this time to learn about both sides of the issue.  What a concept, huh?  There’s lots of good information to be found here and here.  Then we come back from the New Year not only opinionated but educated and we’ll have an intelligent dialog.  We owe it to twenty children who are looking down and hoping we’ll act like grown-ups.

Yeah, I know.  Fat chance.   What’s happened to us as a people?

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Tags: curmudgeonly rants, gun control, perspectives, postaday, sadness, Sandy Hook

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