Nearly As Good As The Comedy Channel

Former Congresswoman Gabby Gifford’s presentation at the Senate hearing on gun safety was remarkable. Her courage and determination to recover, in so far as is possible, after being shot in the head by a mentally deranged young man brought a tear to my eye.  And the obvious pride on her husband’s face as she was making her presentation was inspiring.

With that being said, I never thought watching a Senate Committee on gun safety and listening to those testifying against gun safety laws would be so entertaining!

First we had Wayne LaPierre make the mind-boggling statement that it was pointless to have background checks for gun purchasers at gun shows and between individuals because criminals would never submit to background checks.  Assuming, of course, that there would be enforcement of the new law, isn’t that what this is all about?  If the criminal doesn’t submit to the background check, he, or she, doesn’t get to buy a gun!  That is the whole point!  We all know that there will be a black market for guns but at least the criminals will have to pay a great deal more for an assault weapon, and will have to go to some trouble to get one.  But this will also keep them out of the hands of other people who really shouldn’t have one.

After LaPierre’s testimony we got to listen to Gayle Trotter’s testimony about how guns really make women safer.  Never mind that the majority of women who are killed, are done in by someone they know well, and that someone has access to the gun that is already in the house.  But Trotter had a scenario, apparently made up since she cited no documentation to support it, of the woman with children who is home alone with them, and 4-5 intruders come into to her house.  She wouldn’t have enough bullets in just a regular gun to kill all of them.

So let’s carry this thing a tad further.  In order to have easy access to her AR-15, it would need to be close at hand and loaded so that when the intruders “intrude”, she is loaded and ready to shoot since most intruders don’t make appointments.  Now how old are these children? Boys, as soon as they reach the age of thought, are fascinated by guns.  You may notice that I did not say, “age of reason”.  So let’s assume, since we are making this scenario up that there are boys in the house between the ages of 5 to 15.  Thus, there will be a loaded and ready to shoot AR-15 within easy access.  And if they are all girls, has anyone just assumed the girls are not interested in guns?  So boys or girls, has anyone taken the time to teach the children not to, under any circumstance, for any reason, touch the AR-15?  And will the children actually listen?  Or has the mother taken appropriate precautions such as dismantling the gun and putting parts of it in different locations in the house, with the clips in still another location?  And if so, then it is not loaded and ready to shoot the intruders who didn’t let her know they were coming. 

I can hardly wait for the next hearings.  Nearly as good as the Comedy Channel.