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Radical Gun Proposal
I’m going to make a radical proposal which will probably make those reading this post howl about the Second Amendment. Fine. When Obama was elected, I heard “Obama’s coming to take your guns!” Now it’s “Hillary’s coming to take your guns!” Here what I propose: the government-the federal government-SHOULD confiscate every firearm belonging to anyone, outside of those weapons legally issued to those employed as policemen (and after the coverage of recent shooting by police officers I have my doubts about the wisdom of this) or the military. If you are not in the militia, you DON’T need a gun. Period. This is not the colonial era, when you had to hunt for food. Yes, I know that people still hunt. And they enjoy doing that. So I’m making an arbitrary moral judgment here. (This is my blog, so I can.) But I believe that in this day and age, when gun violence is so widespread, that owning a gun for even hunting should be forbidden. I live in a small town in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. It’s bucolic. Yet yesterday a man with a gun drove down the interstate randomly shooting at people. A woman was killed. I don’t want to hear “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” any longer. That’s simply not the case. The likelihood of violence dramatically increases when a gun is present. Guns don’t kill people. People WITH GUNS kill people.
On a personal note, I want to address the idea put forth by a friend of mine that society would be safer if every household were armed, i.e. had a gun. However, studies show that guns are not likely to be used in self-defense and instead have a higher chance of being stolen, used for suicide, or ending in some form of accidental mishap. That’s research. If every household were like my landlord, for instance: sober, knowledgeable about guns and gun safety, responsible, serious about his duties as a citizen, sane, etc,, then perhaps I might concede her a point. But more households than I care to think about resemble the one seven blocks away, wherein dwell folks who are regularly visited by the cops for various illicit activities or the one down the street belonging to the man who informed me that I’m burning in hell due to being queer and a Jew. Do I feel safer, knowing THESE people could have guns? Hell, no!
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Trump’s Message: Being a Bigot is Acceptable
Like many other Jews and others, I was disgusted by Trump’s blatantly anti-Semitic tweet directed somewhat mystifyingly at Clinton. But Trump’s attitude afterwards about the resulting furor that the tweet caused is even more disturbing. He has staunchly DEFENDED the offensive tweet, despite the damning knowledge coming to light that the imagery was lifted from a racist source. Rather than acknowledging that this was playing to the old canard about Jews and money, Trump continued to insist it was a sheriff’s badge and would not back down. Racists and anti-Semites, including David Duke of the KKK, praised the tweet and then embellished it. Still Trump saw no evil. Despite his oft-repeated statement that he will be the best friend that Israel ever had, it is clear that Jews are included along with Muslims in his hit list. So his message to Americans is this: it is okay to be a bigot, as long as you’re discriminating against a Muslim, Jew, or Mexican. Fuck anyone who’s not white and Christian.
Addendum: I had a friend tell me that she hates for people to look at Trump and think he is the poster boy for Christianity. Here was my reply:
While Trump might not be the poster boy for Christians, there is no denying that he favors Christianity. His campaign has established an Evangelical Advisory Board, which includes right-wing figures ranging from Michele Bachman to Focus On The Family’s James Dobson. He has not made any such committee for other religious groups, including Jews and the much maligned Muslims. He claims to be A Christian and assiduously courts the conservative Evangelicals, even to the point of being “born-again”. So, while I don’t want to tar all Christians with the same brush, (I know some fine people who are Christian), Trump is doing his utmost to tell people who AREN’T Christian (and white) that they are not welcome or wanted and that this is acceptable behavior. It would be nice to hear Christians pointing out that this is not Christian behavior! Some have and do. But a sizeable minority seem to agree that racism is justified, when directed at suitable others, i.e. heathens, be they Jews, Muslims, atheists, or other non-believers. (Or even the wrong color Christians or Christians from the wrong country.)
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Trump’s Message: Being a Bigot is Acceptable
Like many other Jews and others, I was disgusted by Trump’s blatantly anti-Semitic tweet directed somewhat mystifyingly at Clinton. But Trump’s attitude afterwards about the resulting furor that the tweet caused is even more disturbing. He has staunchly DEFENDED the offensive tweet, despite the damning knowledge coming to light that the imagery was lifted from a racist source. Rather than acknowledging that this was playing to the old canard about Jews and money, Trump continued to insist it was a sheriff’s badge and would not back down. Racists and anti-Semites, including David Duke of the KKK, praised the tweet and then embellished it. Still Trump saw no evil. Despite his oft-repeated statement that he will be the best friend that Israel ever had, it is clear that Jews are included along with Muslims in his hit list. So his message to Americans is this: it is okay to be a bigot, as long as you’re discriminating against a Muslim, Jew, or Mexican. Fuck anyone who’s not white and Christian.
Addendum: I had a friend tell me that she hates for people to look at Trump and think he is the poster boy for Christianity. Here was my reply:
While Trump might not be the poster boy for Christians, there is no denying that he favors Christianity. His campaign has established an Evangelical Advisory Board, which includes right-wing figures ranging from Michele Bachman to Focus On The Family’s James Dobson. He has not made any such committee for other religious groups, including Jews and the much maligned Muslims. He claims to be A Christian and assiduously courts the conservative Evangelicals, even to the point of being “born-again”. So, while I don’t want to tar all Christians with the same brush, (I know some fine people who are Christian), Trump is doing his utmost to tell people who AREN’T Christian (and white) that they are not welcome or wanted and that this is acceptable behavior. It would be nice to hear Christians pointing out that this is not Christian behavior! Some have and do. But a sizeable minority seem to agree that racism is justified, when directed at suitable others, i.e. heathens, be they Jews, Muslims, atheists, or other non-believers. (Or even the wrong color Christians or Christians from the wrong country.)
