I wanted to write a post about the new 23-point Biden Memo, which is the White House’s attempt to demonstrate that it is Doing Something in response to the Sandy Hook massacre.
But I literally fell asleep reading the memo. Somewhere around banning armor-piercing rounds (the kids at Sandy Hook were wearing body armor?) my eyes glazed over. A week and a half of nothing but gun talk here at the League burned me out a bit on the subject. Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors from talking about guns with their patients? Really? This comes up?
And seriously, a 23-point “action plan” consisting of a lot of further study and a lot of rhetoric at Congress is taking public policy into the razor-blade like realm of self-parody: just as one day my razor will be the size of a tennis racquet because three, four, five blades will no longer be acceptable and I will demand twelve, thirteen, or fourteen of them, so too will asking for “the specifics” from politicians produce ever-longer numbered lists of vague ideas. More vague ideas must mean at least some of them are specific, right?
So, hey. The Administration Did Something. They called for a renewal of the assault weapons ban. There you go, gun rights advocates: your proof that Obama is a gun-grabber. They called for the government to educate the public about how to safely store guns, a conceptual lighting of money on fire. Responsible gun owners already store their weapons safely. Irresponsible gun owners are going to ignore the public education. But, the White House Did Something.
Here’s what I’m going to do: admit that I’m an awful person for not caring as intensely about this as you do at this exact moment.
I think of few of the things in the memo actually make sense and are good ideas. Pushing law enforcement to track guns used in crime seems pretty obvious and its silly we haven’t been doing more that. Make info more info on lost and stolen guns more available; seems fine to me. Trying to put in background checks for all sales; yeah i’m fine with that. That being said, lots of this is mild as dishwater and of course at the same time all the usual suspects are screaming about gun grabbing, nullification, impeachment and the rest of that bucket of stupid.
I’m surprised they did this much since i figured O is saving his focus for the idiotic debt ceiling clusterfish and immigration. And i’ll say it again, nothing will get through congress.
Responsible gun owners already store their guns safely…….ummmm no not really or you are really sticking it to some former cops, military guys and general good eggs that i have known.
Apparently burying your guns isn’t storing them safely. Who knew?
Also, guys, a gun is NOT a geocache. If you find a gun in a public park, do not take it and leave a Nirvana CD.
Aaand that’s our safety tip for the day. Thanks, Kim!
Isn’t storing your guns safely part of the definition of being a responsible gun owner?
I predict that if you asked the “good eggs,” they would tell you they store their guns safely right now. A public education campaign would not change their habits.
I could imagine a subset of gun owners who BELIEVE they are storing them safely but who might be taking fundamentally unsafe steps. These people might consider themselves, and be perceived by others, as responsible because they are making a good faith effort to be safe and demonstrate other, proper forms of safety, but might still make mistakes. Education could still prove helpful there. Similar to your recent point about people’s perception of their driving ability and how that contrasts with their actual driving habits.
Which is not to say I endorse this or any of the other orders (I haven’t even read them, to be honest); I’m just making a broader point about the potential benefits of safety programs even on those who are interested in being safe.
Yeah, I guess that’s true. “I thought I was storing my guns safely, but now I know I wasn’t, so I’ll change my ways.” I’m not convinced that if this subset of gun owners exists it’s particularly large and I’m far from convinced that even if they could be educated into changing their ways it would matter all that much.
But I’ll walk back my earlier remark on that point and concede that there may be some educable gun owners out there whose habits can be improved.
I would define the most responsible gun user (or most responsible whatever) as one who was willing to have their habits challenged and adapt to new information.
I think where this effort would run into real problems would be the source of the information. I could imagine even very responsible gun owners who were willing to learn new methods for gun safety would be a little bit skeptical of information they received from a Democratic government official who himself might have limited gun experience. EVEN if the information was sound and accurate, even if the official was educated by experienced gun users, even if the efforts were bi-partisan, the messenger does matter in the real world.
I mean, I know I put less credibility into “best practice” education standards and the like that come from the government than I do into those that come from leading organizations/people in the field. Fair or not.
But what is safely?
If I buy a hand gun for home defense, is it reasonable for me to also keep it locked in a box in a closet while the ammunition is locked in a separate box somewhere else?
That’s pretty dang safe, but it also means that if there is an intruder in my house I need to go to two different locations in my home to get my home defense ready. That can seriously compromise the whole point of having the gun in the house for safety.
But if I leave it loaded in my night stand…. not that hard for someone else to get a hold of and do something with.
I imagine “safety” would vary.
A house with children should have different behaviors than one without.
A hunting rifle should be stored differently than a hand gun purchased for protection.
If they are attempting to push a one-size-fits-all approach to safety.. well… fail.
Typically, the safety is located near the trigger, usually on the left side. A good thing to learn when you’re first handling the gun.
I see what you did there.
I have to admit that have spending a month questioning the sanity of my “Friends” on this issue (and some of them went on record as saying they were ready for the next revolution) I rather expected something more “Interesting” to come out of all of this than what we got.
It’s like he realized this was going to be a hot potato and decided it wasn’t worth the political capital for any kind of real fight.
Nobody wants to do anything about a buncha black kids dying in the ‘hood.
That’s plain and simple.
If there was a problem with it, if people wanted to do something about it, the ATF would stop being so god-damn lazy.
When it was white folks getting “mugged” and shot (outside of philly), people could be arsed to care.
Nobody cares about the white guys who went into black neighborhoods hunting civilians. Yeah, they described it like that. (I figure by now they’re in jail). But nobody CARES, because we kinda expect shit like that.
Most people don’t expect kids to die randomly (I do. Kids’re dumb. Parents are often dumb. This is life, goddamit, not some pretty story, and sometimes you don’t get what you planned on. The cookie shall crumble for someone).
23 points in the Biden memo?
Were 7 of them plagiarized? 😉
All 23.
Have to concurr on the “ZZZZ”. There is quite a lot here I’d object to, but I was really expecting more.
Also, pushing LE to track guns used in crime? Err, how’s that working out with “Fast and Furious”? No so well I hear. LE doesn’t want to investigate itself? Real dedication to getting those guns off the street.
I’m not sure I see a downside to the memo.
Democrats can say they thought of not one, not two, but twenty three different actionable ideas.
Republicans can scream loudly that Obama is going to take all of their guns and set up a New World Order, without actually having to worry about Obama coming to take all their guns and set up a New World Order.
Everybody wins.
You know what, you’re right! I got a safe, non-addictive alternative to Ambien.
And it’s a plug for Joel Schumacher.
just as one day my razor will be the size of a tennis racquet because three, four, five blades will no longer be acceptable and I will demand twelve, thirteen, or fourteen of them, so too will asking for “the specifics” from politicians produce ever-longer numbered lists of vague ideas. More vague ideas must mean at least some of them are specific, right?
And this is why almost all government documents are mind-numbingly boring.