So, I'm shopping at my local H-E-B in Austin, Texas. I walk down the aisle with school supplies, charcoal and magazines. I just happen to glance at the magazine rack. There are a bazillion gun magazines. What the ever-loving hell?
You've got Guns.
Then of course Handguns.
And Guns and Weapons.
The Handgun Buying Guide.
Gunslinger.
Handgun (not to be confused with Handguns).
Gun World.
World of Firepower.
Hunting.
Shooting.
Shooting Illustrated.
AR-15 (for those who like just one terrible type of gun).
Gun Gear.
Guns & Ammo.
Survival Guide.
Predator Nation.
Combat Tactics.
Tactical World.
Special Weapons.
Black Guns.
Guns IS (maybe for people joining ISIS?)
Garden and Gun (grow vegetables, then kill them)
If you have read my blog, you know that I am prone to a bit of exaggeration. That's why I took pictures of the H-E-B racks for your PolitiFact check. Every one of those magazines exist. Which means that every one has a circulation large enough to justify printing a magazine entitled "Black Guns."
If this is the gun magazine collection at my H-E-B, I can't even imagine the selection at the Wal-Mart in Jackson, Mississippi. I can imagine it, but I don't want to.
The other truly depressing thing is that my H-E-B has filled its "Men's General" section with gun magazines. I am a general man, and that doesn't interest me. They have also filled their "Home Décor" section with gun magazines. For the homeowner who decorates with guns. And their "Hobbies / Manias" section with gun magazines. (the Manias part I understand). And of course, their "Pregnancy" section with gun magazines.
This goes well beyond "sigh." What the living fuck is up with people and guns? Why are we acting like terrorists are everywhere and will kill everyone, when the actual danger is idiots (good, solid American idiots) with guns? This country has, on average, one mass shooting per day. Per day. Every single day, someone commits an act of violence with a gun against four or more people. Every. Single. Day.
http://www.shootingtracker.com/wiki/Mass_Shootings_in_2015
It is so commonplace that, as I was looking through the list for this year, I found myself. June 21, 2015 - Russell Smith of Roy, Utah killed three members of his family and himself. Mass shooting number 158 of the year. Currently, we are on #353 for the year (which is in fact the San Bernardino shootings).
This does not include the non-mass shootings, the toddler shootings (see earlier blog), or the scores of suicides by guns.
I am getting closer to the point where I will feel compelled to take your guns. Possibly by going door to door and collecting them. Admittedly, not a well-thought-through plan.
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1 comment:
Two messages there. One, never mess with the pregnant.
Two, we are so besotted with guns and yet if a 7-year old boy makes that 'kerSHEW" sound and points his finger at a friend or a teacher he is suspended from school and sent for counseling.
You know how silly it gets when you realize my generation (girls included) had cap pistols, played cowboys and injuns, said KerSHEW a lot, and frequently blew the doors off a gun by overloading it with caps. we knew the damn difference betweem real guns and cap guns, even at 9 My father's only injunction was, never point a gun at anyone. Even a toy gun.
This reminds me strongly of the Victorian injunction against words like 'bull', "leg' and "pregnant". The more you prohibit self expression the more of it there is in the back of the closet. Witness the Victorian hangup with porn, S&M, and prostitutes. Witness our national obsession to Own Guns.
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