Plus ca change....

In light of today's sad and tragic (no matter the ultimate outcome for that poor boy and his family) episode at Walpole Middle School), this note I sent out pre-blog seems apropos as a post now:

If it's Tuesday between noon and 2 pm, it must be time for another episode of I Don't Sing: The Broadly Eclectic, or Themes, Like "Old Times", or Subverting the Dominant Paradigm, or whatever other weird, punny, or self-consciously precious title I can come up with;  let's add Comforting The Afflicted, Afflicting The Comfortable, shan't we?  Okay.

This week's theme:  Let's try this again.  A few weeks ago I sent you all the email you'll now find below, detailing  the show I was gonna do about guns, shooting, bullets, etc.  Forces larger than all of us (black choppers and SUVs, Tommy Lee Jones, Tom Cruise and tommyguns) conspired to prevent that show from happening at the time I intended. I'm gonna give it another shot, though (yeah, I saw that coming), with some addenda.

First, my nephew, who has read extensively about WWII and Red Mike reminded me that he (Red Mike, my great uncle) was once the president of the NRA.

Also, Jim Arness, who played Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke for over 20 years, died in 2011.

Now, there are 3 bills pending before the NH Legislature, which seem to acknowledge the NRA's influence and to cry out for a return to the Wild, Wild West, and Marshal (sic) law.  One bill would prohibit colleges in NH from banning guns on campus; another would allow any to resident to carry a weapon, open or concealed, at any time, without a permit; the third would overturn a law which has been on the books for 60 or 70 years, and allow for loaded shotguns or rifles in any vehicle.  All of these bills are opposed by all law-enforcement agencies, and Governor Lynch has vowed to veto any of them that might be passed. Still, legislators persist in writing and putting them forth, with no apparent need (voter ID, anyone?).  To paraphrase Click and Clack "Doesn't anybody screen these guys?".

Finally, in the missive below, I called the NRA a "cult"; I was looking for incendiary language, but I chose wrong.  They are, really, an extremist group.  It would be interesting to find out where, on a continuum, they would think gun-owner rights ought to be curtailed.  They've established that they think all citizens ought to be able to own assault weapons and armor-piercing ammo.  How about rocket-propelled grenades?  Tactical nukes (former NH Gov. Mel Thompson--R, Pluto--right after Kent State happened, advocated that the Nat'l Guard be armed with those, and I'm not making that up)?  Where does the Second Amendment (or Coming) end?

Original message:  Okay, bear with me; this may take a while.  Like most people, I come from a family with a military background.  Several of my uncles served in WWII;  in fact, my great uncle Merritt "Red Mike" Edson was commander of US Marines on Guadalcanal, became a several-starred general, had a Destroyer (I think) named for him, etc, etc.  My family (on my father's side, at least) were also always hunters.  In fact, my father supported his extended family during the first Great Depression by cutting firewood and killing and selling deer (which was illegal).  In short, guns are in my background.  I have hunted, I have killed many creatures, I own guns and can use them.  I hope that establishes my bona fides with all of the 2nd Amendment zealots in my audience.

Recently, a group of Free Staters (Google 'em if you're unfamiliar--it's a digression I'm unwilling to make) held a--what? Meeting? News Conference?--on the campus of Plymouth State University (nee College) here in New Hamster, during which time they put forth the proposition that college students should be allowed to carry firearms whenever and whereever, that the State had no right to prohibit that.  Holy Shit!!! 

In my lotht youse, I attended Plymouth State College, as it was known then.  I also attended the University of Hartford, and UNH, where I also taught.  I cannot IMAGINE arming any, let alone all, of those 18-21-yr-olds, on campus, at all times.  So your roommate's girlfriend broke up with him, and now he's shitfaced and armed?  Do you wanna be in that room, or anywhere on campus, with him? 

I think that the rationale, if it can be called that, for such "thinking", put forward by the NRA and other cults, is that an armed citizen is a safe citizen.  If, they figure, the right-wing nutjob (and yes, he was, certifiably) who held hostage a group of terrified kids in Norway  last summer for an hour and a half and killed dozens,  had instead been in, say, Texas, he'd have lasted 10 minutes or so, since any number of campers would have been packing themselves, and thus would have dispensed with him.  To me, this is akin to someone, in 16th-century, Bubonic-Plague-infested-Europe, recommending that, as a precaution, everyone be issued an infected rat.  Actuarially, it makes no sense (never mind logically).  How often do mass killings take place, and how often are, oh, 30% of college students inebriated?  PSC (Pot, Sex, Continual drinking) become PSU (Pistols, Semi-automatics, Uzis)? 

On this past Black Friday,  Americans bought at least 129,166 firearms--32% more than the previous one-day record, according to The Week, via USA Today.  I'd say "Help", but I think it's too late, in too many ways.

 

Enough, enough, enough.