Ron Reagan Calls for Sensible Gun Control in Wake of Dark Knight Shootings

Image from Denver Post

Whenever there is a mass shooting in America (and it is far too often), gun fetishists immediately launch into a pre-emptive defense, knowing full well that some people are going to call for something to be done regarding gun laws. They often seem more concerned with that, then about the victims of yet another tragedy. And always, people say "now is not the time" to discuss such things.

Nonsense. Now is the best time to discuss such things. When it is fresh in peoples' minds. When it is not a hypothetical, but a reality. I've said here many times that I'm basically agnostic about guns and gun laws. But I am swayed by calls for sensible gun control laws. Things like competency tests and training. Things like making sure a buyer is not batshit crazy. Things like restricting the availability of guns with the capability of inflicting massive casualties in short periods of time. This guy shot 70 people! It's not crazy to want to make it harder for a madman to kill a bunch of people in a few minutes. What do gun nuts think is coming a zombie apocalypse?

Ron Reagan was filling in for Chris Matthews on Hardball on Friday, and in the "Let Me Finish. . ." segment, gave a brilliant essay on the subject. I was glad to see him use the same phrase I do (gun fetish), and that he also considers himself gun agnostic for the most part. And that he likes tweaking the NRA. I don't know why the right dislikes Ron Reagan so much either. I mean to them, he's practically the son of God, right?

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Man Shoots Up Church Because of Their "Liberal Agenda"

Image from source, Guardian UK

In another case of "this was bound to happen," a man has shot up a church because of their "liberal agenda," apparently. This is a tragic situation all around, and it is probably unseemly to appropriate it to make a point. But I'm finding it difficult not to.

For decades now, the right wing--Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, FOX "News", prominent politicians, Ann Coulter--have been demonizing liberals and Democrats. No matter what ill is affecting the citizenry, it's all the liberals' fault. Price of oil? The economy? Unemployment? Erectile dysfunction? All liberals. Name the problem, you've got your bad guy. In recent years, they put liberals right up there with terrorists as "the enemy." Coulter and Hannity put it right there in their book titles.

I'm smart enough to know that apparent cause does not always equal apparent effect. But in this case, I can't help but wonder.

[Excerpt]

Tennessee man cites church's liberal values as reason for shooting

A man who shot and killed two parishioners during a children's play at a Tennessee church yesterday attacked the congregation because of its outspoken socially liberal and gay-friendly beliefs, police said.

The 58-year-old unemployed engineer accused in the Sunday morning attack at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, was driven to bloodshed in part by his "stated hatred for the liberal movement" as well as his hatred for gays, said Knoxville, Tennessee, police chief Sterling Owen. "We're certainly investigating it as a hate crime. . ."

Read more at: Guardian UK

You would think that a right wing site like Free Republic would be sobered by news that one of there bretheren had done such a thing in the name of conservatism. You'd be wrong.

Read if you dare: Free Republic