So, yeah. This happened today: a number of motorcycle gangs shot each other up in the parking lot of a Twin Peaks restaurant. http://www.dallasnews.com/...
See below the swirly engraving from a Harley's chrome-plated air-filter cover for my short-but-poignant rant on the subject.
Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once remarked that the U.S. was a series of "laboratories of democracy", and that the various and sundry states could keep an eye on each other to see what works and what doesn't. What happened in Waco, Texas today must surely be an example of what doesn't.
The NRA has been telling us for more than thirty years that "If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns". And it's been less than a decade since the Grand High Poo-Bah of Irresponsible Gun-Nuttery Wayne LaPierre asserted that "only a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun".
So what happened in Waco today? Did the widespread availability of cheap, legal firearms prevent a gang fight? Did Texas's policy of non-outlawed guns for anyone with a pulse mitigate the damage done by outlaws with guns? Did that State's knee-jerk revulsion toward the very idea of background checks save one single life?
Mein Herr LaPierre, I have one question for you: where the hell were all of the "good guys with guns? Where was Dirty Harry with his .44 hand cannon? Where was John Rambo? Why wasn't there one law-abiding, Freedom-lovin' Texan wielding a pair of .50-cal Vulcan rotary cannons?
Well, I already know what the NRA is going to say: they are going to assert that the "law-abiding citizens" were hiding under the table, terrified that any shot they took would lead straight to arrest, confiscation, and liability. Because, you know, Texas's gun laws are "too damn restrictive". Thanks, Obama.
Well, anyway, let us count our blessings: at least no children were killed this time. Because this happened in Texas, you see. And Texas cares enough about children to keep 'em away from sinful boobies and buttocks.