Men with guns instilling cultural taboos
by digby
Following up on David's post below, I think it's probably important to also note that while the NRA is hoodwinking its members, it's also running roughshod over our national discourse. The newest strong arm tactic is to insist that it's rude and improper to even talk about gun violence in the wake of mass shootings.It's "politicizing" the tragedy and cruel to the victims to question the fact that lunatics and terrorists are mowing down innocent citizens because of easy access to deadly weapons.
On the other hand,this is a-ok:
Three days after a gunman calling himself the Joker from the Batman series shot dead 12 people in a suburban Denver movie theater, the National Rifle Association sent out a letter asking for money.
“The future of your Second Amendment rights will be at stake,” the letter said. “And nothing less than the future of our country and our freedom will be at stake.”
The letter was dated July 23. The Aurora Colorado massacre was July 20th.
Basically, we are now at a point at which the NRA has decreed that it's only acceptable to talk about phantom gun confiscation in the wake of mass murders committed with guns. Can we all se what's wrong with that picture?
The libertarians all base their fear of government on the fact that it enforces its will at the point of a gun. I've got to say that at this point, I'm equally fearful of all the other "men with guns" who are enforcing their will on the culture and the government. I don't know who's going to win this shoot-out at the OK Corral of the 21st century, but it's a sickening comment on our society that innocent people are being killed by dozens in the crossfire.
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