Cicero would have had a field day with the latest tragedy replayed in Uvalde, TX. I miss Ann Richards with her blonde bouffant which I believe was a cooling system for that wit. The same one she kept sharp as a freshly stropped razor and quicker with it than Sweeney Todd. And I miss Molly Ivans for calling the bastards out with frequency and aplomb. I also miss what Hunter S. Thompson might have said too. He was a lifelong .44 magnum fan. He was also a fan of the truth no matter how ugly. God, I miss the acerbic wit of them all.
With them gone, here I go. Feeble and growing older by the minute it's time for me to speak up... again. But first a few caveats about me: I'm a ginger, a marksman, a father, a husband, a coworker, a woodworker, a reformed evangelical, a hiker and a lover of movies, women, a friend to all dogs, a proud G-Pa who loves some musical theater, damnit! Stanley Kubrick and Stephen Sondheim are the GOATs.
But what do we do about the most recent school shooting in Uvalde, TX. Mourn and lick our wounds. That's all we can do today. Tomorrow is another thing.
The Gun Control Act of '68 was put into place after a decade of high profile assassinations. Shoot the famous and things get done. Shoot up a school full of grade school children or a nightclub full of revelers and you get squeals from the gun lobby about freedom and commies and freedom and God-given guns and FREEDOM! Like some K Street suit in Braveheart makeup brandishing an M5 over his head while dancing on the hood of his/her Hummer.
The GCA '68 created a separate classification for destructive devices such as bazookas, grenade launchers and fully automatic weapons. I remember my older brother getting an army surplus M1 Garrand. Beautiful! He still has it and as far as I know, hasn't used it on anything but paper and spent shotgun shells. The Greatest Generation chased Tojo and Hitler back into the holes from which they came with those rifles.
Fast forward to today, we have weapons capable of killing an entire room of grade school children with one clip. The Garrand only holds eight rounds. Think about that. How many rounds do you need to take on Bambi? Or your government? The same government with drones, M1 Abrams, Apaches and Javelin missiles? Yeah, that one.
How about we move the assault rifle and all its variants into the Class III destructive devices category? The legislation already exists! Then we can grandfather in (no reg fee) any preexisting weapons into a registry with teeth. You own an AR, you have a record. The G men know where your ARs are. Fuck up and it disappears along with your freedom! Which means we are held responsible for any ill purveyed upon the public by the willful or negligent misuse of said firearm. Carrot and stick. Simple.
I also believe that if you are prescribed and taking psychotropic medications, you have to give up all things that go bang until you are cleared. You're depressed, dipwad, that's why! You're manic-depressive, you numbskull! You're taking meds to perk you up or perk you down, tapioca brain! In other words, if you can't control your behavior without medications, you sure as shit don't need an AR with a thirty round clip in the house. The 2nd Amendment wasn't about you! Just sayin...
Maybe we just hold them for you? How about leaving them with friends or relatives? Fine, but they have to know that they'll be added to the registry too. It's as simple as this, we have licenses to drive cars and have to prove that we can do so safely. Why is it that we can't do the same for civilian owned military weapons?
One things for certain, the fight for real democracy, freedom and justice will always be with us. Right now, I think we need to hold the do-nothing bastards in congress up by their ears and tan their asses as my mom would say. Now my Dad, he would have added, "Oughta take a machine gun and..."
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