...so why can't Sarah Brady et al?
Last night I took my girlfriend and her two kids out to dinner. I've been seeing her for 8 months, and she and the kids are used to seeing me carry. Sometimes open, sometimes concealed (with Virginia CCH permit).
So there we were, sitting in the Pizzeria Uno's in Woodbridge. I was carrying openly because of the silly Virginia laws. The staff at the restaurant see me often enough that they all know I carry, and I'm a popular enough customer that waitresses fight over which of them gets me in their section. (Just doing my part to dispel the misconception that all gun-owners are paranoid nutballs).
I was talking with my girlfriend about random stuff, and I mentioned the recent tax fraud debacle over at the MMM. Her 10-year-old daughter piped up and asked who the Million Mom March was. I explained that it was a group that believed that private citizens should not be allowed to own guns. She asked why they wanted to make guns illegal. I told her that there were some people who believed that guns were the cause of violent crime, and that by making guns completely illegal, crime would be reduced. I said all of this with a completely neutral tone, because I wanted to see how she reacted to it without any kind of external pressure.
I'm so proud! She immediately responded with: "That's silly. People need to be able to own guns to protect themselves, and their families. Criminals won't obey laws, so good people need to have guns, or the criminals will be able to do whatever they want."
Just to see how well she'd thought it out, I asked, "But if guns were made totally illegal, and no one had them, how would criminals get them?"
She looked at me like I was being particularly stupid (which that question presupposes, really...) and said, "Drugs are totally illegal here, too, but people who want them still get them."
Sarah Brady, are you listening? A 10-year old girl, who still likes N'Sync and the Backstreet Boys, has managed to demonstrate more cognitive ability than the entire Million Mom March and Brady Campaign combined. Pay attention, you might learn something.
-BP
Last night I took my girlfriend and her two kids out to dinner. I've been seeing her for 8 months, and she and the kids are used to seeing me carry. Sometimes open, sometimes concealed (with Virginia CCH permit).
So there we were, sitting in the Pizzeria Uno's in Woodbridge. I was carrying openly because of the silly Virginia laws. The staff at the restaurant see me often enough that they all know I carry, and I'm a popular enough customer that waitresses fight over which of them gets me in their section. (Just doing my part to dispel the misconception that all gun-owners are paranoid nutballs).
I was talking with my girlfriend about random stuff, and I mentioned the recent tax fraud debacle over at the MMM. Her 10-year-old daughter piped up and asked who the Million Mom March was. I explained that it was a group that believed that private citizens should not be allowed to own guns. She asked why they wanted to make guns illegal. I told her that there were some people who believed that guns were the cause of violent crime, and that by making guns completely illegal, crime would be reduced. I said all of this with a completely neutral tone, because I wanted to see how she reacted to it without any kind of external pressure.
I'm so proud! She immediately responded with: "That's silly. People need to be able to own guns to protect themselves, and their families. Criminals won't obey laws, so good people need to have guns, or the criminals will be able to do whatever they want."
Just to see how well she'd thought it out, I asked, "But if guns were made totally illegal, and no one had them, how would criminals get them?"
She looked at me like I was being particularly stupid (which that question presupposes, really...) and said, "Drugs are totally illegal here, too, but people who want them still get them."
Sarah Brady, are you listening? A 10-year old girl, who still likes N'Sync and the Backstreet Boys, has managed to demonstrate more cognitive ability than the entire Million Mom March and Brady Campaign combined. Pay attention, you might learn something.
-BP
