Many gun owners are responsible, reasonable people. They don't particularly care whether they're allowed to carry an assault rifle into Chipotle. They are fine with background checks. They follow the law.
Then there's the other ones. You know, the idiots. There isn't just one species of gun idiot; it's a diverse genus. One keeps their gun under their mattress, locked and loaded, and tells their kids where it is in case they need to fight a bad monster. Another makes a hobby of testing retailers to see which stores won't let them browse the CLEARANCE fedoras with deadly weapons slung over their shoulders. Still another thinks they'll persuade lawmakers by being belligerent, threatening jerks. And then there's the ever-hilarious social media John Waynes who say horrible shit that they wholeheartedly believe, then delete it when someone points out what a lunatic they're being.
Today, we have for you a couple of fine examples of the latter two types. First, let's have a chuckle at the Washington State gun weirdos who tried and failed to get arrested for carrying guns into the state Capitol building. Yes, failed!
The plan was to walk into the Capitol after a few speeches and carry guns into the Legislature’s viewing gallery, in defiance of rule changes made in January that banned the open carry of firearms there. However, the Washington State Patrol kept the gallery doors locked after the building opened to the public at 11 a.m.
Surely there's an excellent reason why private citizens would need to heavily arm themselves to observe the proceedings of the Washington State legislature, yet somehow it escapes us! Really, there must be some very obvious reason why this is so important, beyond "I like guns, and I think the Second Amendment says I'm allowed to carry any gun anywhere I want at any time for any reason," because that would just be foolish! Why, the Supreme Court -- oh wait, yeah, it really is just the "I like guns" thing. Anyway, we'd like to think this guy was just trying to be funny:
“What’s the world coming to when there are people who want to break the law and they won’t let you do it?” said Dave Grenier, 58, of Tumwater, as his fellow pro-gun demonstrators began to file out of the Capitol.
Let's hope their civil disobedience ends there. (Remember the last time the Washington State Gun Fools Club got together at the Capitol? The guy with the gas mask? Tough act to follow, especially if you can't even manage to get yourself arrested.)
[contextly_sidebar id="3RmHFwXoANmFb6G3p4aWZFefSlwaXXdN"]
Then there's today's Social Media John Wayne: NRA Board Member and total Texan Charles Cotton. Perfect gun nut name, off to a good start. And then you read what the man said, holy shit:
Wow, right? Let's just repeat that: "Perhaps a good paddling in school may keep me from putting a bullet in him later." Now before you dig out your fancy textbooks that say "ACTUALLY Charles Cotton, a really good way to turn someone into a violent criminal is to make sure they're beaten regularly as a kid," you should remember that Charles Cotton don't give a shit. Sure, he will delete his little post double quick when it dawns on him that he sounds like a total fucking asshole. But have no doubt whatsoever that he fully believes that IF ONLY kids these days could expect to be soundly beaten whenever they stepped out of line, the earthly Eden of 1950s America would be restored.
Every large group of people is going to have its share of fools and crazies. What makes the extreme gun rights crowd different is that they elevate the fools and crazies to leadership positions with alarming frequency. Then again, when your group coheres around the belief that America's foremost problem is a lack of access to firearms, there's probably more than a bit of, let's say "survival of the least fit" contributing to the leadership crisis.
And to the responsible, reasonable gun owners out there: It's these fools, not us "gun grabbing" lefties, who should worry you.
Follow Alex on Twitter. You've earned it!
