Getting Weary of all the “Gun nuts”…



Gun

It seems like there’s a certain portion of our society running around screaming that the sky is falling.  They are waving their hands, jumping up and down, and spinning in circles while yelling at the top of their lungs; “Obama hates the 2^nd Amendment,” “He’s coming to take our guns,” “Obama is dictator,” “You’re not taking my guns without a fight,” and so on. They’ve gone beyond overstatement, beyond exaggeration, and beyond hyperbole. I can think of no other way to describe it than just “gun nuttery.” They’ve become nut-jobs for their guns, they are you might say, “gun nuts.”

I suppose I should have seen this coming a while ago. For when comments from some on Facebook after the tragedy at Sandy Hook were things like “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” and “protect the 2^nd Amendment,” it should have been obvious. We’ve got people flipping their lids over Obama’s 23 executive orders, we’ve got people fighting tooth and nail to keep the CDC from studying gun violence, and we’ve got people ready to Impeach President Obama over universal background checks.  Not because he invaded two foreign countries, not because one war was founded on lies, not because he advocated torture—Universal Background Checks!!

For all the fervor about protecting our constitutional rights, I keep wondering why then these same people aren’t up in arms (pardon the pun) about how the USA PATRIOT Act shreds the Constitution.   How they’re oddly quiet about Obama’s shameful ignoring of the Constitution in regards to his usage of Drones to kill US citizens without trial by jury who have been labeled as terrorists.  Heck, they’re all about the Constitution, yet strangely silent when it comes to ensuring equal protection under the law to Gays and Lesbians.   

Nuts

  I get to see the false panic every day. Trust me, I’ve got friends on Facebook who’s every post seems to be pro-gun propaganda (Of course, they probably think all I post is liberal blog rants J).  It’s beginning to remind me of the story of the boy who cried wolf.  When the gun lobby responds with hyperbolic fear-mongering EVERY freakin’ time anything about gun control is mentioned, the general population is just going to start turning you off.  Then, if (and that’s a monumentally big “if”) the government actually does propose something that will truly threaten 2^nd Amendment rights, no one is going to pay attention.

Look, I’m not a gun person, I’ve shot guns but I’ve got no interest in ever owning a gun. I don’t care if you own a gun. I’m totally cool with the 2^nd Amendment. I understand some people own guns for sporting, for protection, or even for colleciton. But I also realize that guns have “sex appeal,” that they speak to that “small penis syndrome” like an H2 Hummer does, and that they’re an instant ego boost.  I get it. So I don’t like idea of fearful, paranoid people walking around with items capable of deadly force.  People like that do stupid things, ala George Zimmerman (allegedly). As a theological student, I’ve learned we’re all capable of doing bad things—and guns have the capacity to make our bad deeds much, much worse.  Remember, we’re not talking about a freakin’ screw driver; we’re talking about a potentially deadly weapon.

So, here’s what I need all you “guns nuts” to do, I need you to take it down a notch. And for the level headed gun owners I know that are out there, tell your overly dramatic cohorts to take a chill pill, because I’m much more likely to consider your points if you’re not running around acting like the sky is falling.