Guns: Shot Down in Flames

Okay, where to begin. Oh, hell, let's start here: Aaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrggg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, that felt good, but I still have more frustration to get out. What I'm seeing on Facebook, and one person's views in particular, is inducing so many *head-desk* moments that I may just have to start wearing a football helmet when I'm logged on. Serious sh*t.

So, in no particular order, I'm going to go through what I feel are some of the major problems with the  arguments I'm seeing from the people on the NRA/pro-gun side, the side that this person advocates, and I'm doing this in an attempt to illustrate why their mind-set and ad campaign is unconvincing at best; a steaming pile of guano, at worst.

The other day, the above-mentioned Facebook friend, who also happens to be a real life neighbor, shared and "liked" a pro-gun internet meme that consisted of a picture of about a dozen Latinos with guns. These guys wore bandannas, had tattoos, and wielded firearms of all kinds......you know, the whole stereotypical, "gang-banger" enchilada(no pun). Well, the point of this lil' internet meme was to attack the pro-gun control position, and oddly, the anti-gun control camp "think" that this position is this: Having stricter guns laws will get criminals to turn in their weapons!!!!

First question: Did the people who propagate this utter frickin' abortion-of-logic just score some crack?!?!? Seriously, did they just hit the pipe!? You've got to be kidding me! If you are reading this and you are an anti-gun control proponent, I ask that you please let this penetrate your cranium: No sane person thinks that having gun laws (or stricter guns laws) will get criminals to turn in their weapons! That notion is absurd. But thankfully, the astute among us know what's really going on here, and that is that the pro-gunners have concocted and propagated a completely caricatured argument of their opponent's position, and they've done this so that it's easier for them to "knock down" that position, AKA, erecting a strawman(fallacy).

Next, the dishonesty of the above-mentioned people continues when they propagate another meme that goes something like this: "Guns don't kill people; people kill people!". Their thinking on this is that, since guns are, oh, just inanimate objects with no conscience of their own, then guns couldn't possibly be part of the problem. This of course is false----guns can, and do, CONTRIBUTE to the problem, since said inanimate objects are made for killing and some of them are made to kill multiple people in a short span of time.

No one needs a flippin' machine gun to defend themselves against a cat-burglar or to hunt moose.

Lastly - and perhaps the most disingenuous of all - these people (pretend that they) cannot tell the difference between the following two terms:

1) gun-control

2) gun-ban(emphasis intentional)

Oh, they know the difference, alright, but again, it's easier for them (think shootin' fish in a barrel) to attribute something that very few if any pro-gun control people are proposing, and then turn right around and shoot it down and/or object to it. Not one single person I have encountered who is pro-gun control is advocating that guns be banned . That is simply a type of diversion tactic(red herring) that the pro-gunners are using, and it stems from an irrational fear that many of them apparently hold. This paranoid, delusional fear of theirs is that the government, because said government cannot be trusted 100%, have a plan to go door-to-door to take everyone's guns away, and this order, to them, will be per our current administration and Commander in Chief.....you know, that black, African-born, "Muslim" Barack Obama? Yeah, him. I guess it never occurred to these people that if our government does this and uses military force to carry out this dark, sinister plan, that people like me will be wondering how all these good 'ol boys are thinking that they and their AKs are going to be a match for an Apache helicopter? Maybe my neighbor will chime in and elaborate on how in the hell that he and his pro-gunner ilk intend to go about this. I think it goes without saying that I will not hold my breath.

UPDATE: The person who prompted this post and who is also a real life neighbor, has, more or less, since given me no choice but to delete him as a FB friend. Out of a base-amount of respect for him, which, BTW, I give to all people, I will not go into detail as to what he did that has led to this decision, simply because he is not here to defend himself. Notice that he hasn't not chimed in and defended his "pro-gun" stance, and I suspect that he won't. But on the off-chance that he does chime in, I will pull no punches in shredding his ignorant views, with a calm, cool, and reasoned smack-down.