Celebrate, gunners
Last night I drove home, changed clothes and then headed right back out with Cindy to meet Katie and her boyfriend for dinner. I was worried that since it was now officially the worst of snowbird season we would be treated to a horrible wait at Carrabbas. Luckily we only had to wait around 15 minutes to get a table.
While we were waiting I grabbed myself a beer and a sangria for Katie to celebrate her 22nd birthday. After we sat down at our table we actually had a manager come over and card Katie, worried they had served alcohol to a minor. I assured the woman she wasn’t a minor and I was the one who purchased the drink on her behalf anyway, relieving any blame from our waitress for not carding Katie. Katie does look young so it wasn’t surprising.
I went very simple with my meal, getting a bowl of whole wheat spaghetti. It was something I hadn’t had at Carrabbas for a long time but it hit the spot. Everyone else seemed to enjoy their meals as well. We had a good time. Cindy drove me home despite the marginal effect three Bud Light drafts had on me.
So yesterday Obama once again flexed his executive order muscle, single handily implementing universal background checks for gun ownership, eliminating the silly loophole that lets anybody with a pulse buy a gun if they do it at a gun show as well as some other restrictions. There is a very odd situation that seems to arise when it comes to the issue of background checks for gun ownership.
Every poll you see indicates a strong majority of Americans are fine with more stringent background checks being implemented. Despite this support, any attempt to implement this through congress has been derailed, backed by strong NRA lobbyist influence. Personally I would rather the president not use executive orders to implement this sort of policy. History shows however this is a common thing with 2nd term presidents as they have nothing to lose. When you are the president that is cursed with an obstructionist congress, these orders seem to be the only way to push any change through whatsoever.
I also find it hypocritical that many of the gunners are probably the same people that stood up and applauded that the FAA now requires all drone owners to register their toy aircraft with the federal government. You have to disclose all of your personal information and are then assigned an ID number that has to be affixed to the drone. If gun owners were asked to do the same thing they would have a shit fit. It’s all so silly.
Some gun supporters will try to prop up an argument that background checks would have done nothing to red flag most of the mass shootings that have occurred over the last decade which is probably true. However this again is not seeing the forest through the trees. In the big picture, putting consistent, basic screening procedures in place for everyone interested in gun ownership is a greater good principle that overall will help prevent at least some degree of unwarranted gun ownership. I mean think about it, why do we require people to get a drivers license if accidents still happen? The answer is so there is at least some base standard for competency to be able to operate a vehicle.
Finally, take a look at this clip from 1999 when an executive vice president of the NRA testified before congress that universal background checks are a good thing and should be implemented. If it was a good thing in 1999 why is it a bad thing in 2016? Again, the logic has flown out the window.
Background checks will not stop gun violence in the United States and ironically, actions like Obama implemented yesterday actually causes a huge surge of gun buying as some people believe the government is going to take their guns away somehow. Regardless, most people realize that background checks should be consistent and not situational. If you don’t have a criminal record or a history of mental illness buy as much deadly force as you feel is necessary, just do it in an above board way. If you are going to walk around with something that is able to extinguish a life in an instant, I don’t think jumping through a small hoop to do so is too much to ask.