Proposing a Dumbass Amendment for Gun Laws

[jimhines]

I learned to shoot a rifle roughly twenty-five years ago. I was an NRA member for a while, learning to target shoot and getting pretty good at it. At Boy Scout camp, I was actually involved in a marksmanship contest one summer. (I was disqualified because my technique was illegal. Sure, I put the bullet dead center through the bullseye, but because I steadied my rifle wrong, it didn’t count. Not that I’m still bitter or anything.)

That said, I would like to propose a slight rewording to the Second Amendment.

“[T]he right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed unless you demonstrate that you are a complete and utter dumbass when it comes to gun safety.”

Take, for example, a state senator who pulls a loaded handgun with no safety and points it at a reporter’s chest.¹

“Oh, it’s so cute,” Klein said, as she unzipped the loaded Ruger from its carrying case to show a reporter and photographer. She was sitting on a leather couch in a lounge, just outside the Senate chamber.

She showed off the laser sighting by pointing the red beam at the reporter’s chest. The gun has no safety, she said, but there was no need to worry.

“I just didn’t have my hand on the trigger,” she said.

Gun safety rule number one, straight from the NRA (hardly a bastion of liberal gun-haters), is “ALWAYS keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.”

I’m not afraid of guns. I’m afraid of people who think guns are toys. Who think they’re cute. Who don’t have the first f***ing clue how to treat a gun. Who think guns are status symbols to be worn like those flag lapel pins.

Lori Klein, you scare the hell out of me. Not because you carry a gun. But because, despite your “informal training,” you obviously haven’t learned to respect them. Per my new Dumbass Amendment, please turn in your little pink .380 until such time as you can demonstrate that you’re no longer a dumbass.

I recognize that comments on this one could get heated fast, so I’ll be moderating as needed. Discussion and debate are fine, but please keep it civil.

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1. Disclaimer: as usual, you should probably avoid reading the comments. ↩

Mirrored from Jim C. Hines.

Comments

[wookiemonster]

Agree with what you wrote, though I'd clarify the NRA line to say, "NEVER point a gun, even if it's unloaded, at a person unless you plan to kill them." At least, that's what my father taught me. Though he was also ex-Navy, so, I guess he had a little better firearm training than the NRA stuff...

[jimhines]

I'd agree with you on that. But for the blog post, I wanted to quote the NRA's rule.

[muccamukk]

pecunium (ex army, life-long gun user) made a couple of posts here about gun safety that are worth a look.

The pictures of that gun that I've seen scare the hell out of me. It's not the pink per se, but the bright solid colour against the black, and how little it is. It looks so much like a toy.

I guess there's a tradition of decorated guns, but I would look at a pearl inly heft and still think "that's a gun that could kill me." This looks like a water pistol.

[jimhines]

There's been some talk about that on my LJ as well, about the difference between decorating a gun vs. making it look like a toy. (Along with some whether the emphasis on *pink* is rooted in sexism, which I suspect is probably true in at least some cases.) But I think any tiny gun in bright/playful colors is going to come off as a toy or a fashion accessory, and that's problematic. Even Klein was going off about how cute it was...

[georgmi]

Right there with you. In Boy Scouts, we had "Totin' Chips" for kids who'd learned the rules of safe knife handling. If an adult saw you breaking the rules, they'd tear a corner off your "Totin' Chip". Once you lost all four corners, you lost your totin' rights and had to go through the safety class again.

Senator Klein needs to have her "Totin' Chip" taken away and burned in front of her.

[jimhines]

I remember Totin' Chip cards! (I also remember at least one time when I *should* have gotten a corner ripped off mine, but nobody saw me.)

I was thinking of knife safety a bit with this post and comments too. Same basic idea: you have to learn how to use it and how to respect it, and if you don't, you're liable to hurt yourself or someone else.