Guns and ...well....butter, I guess

The gun issue is making me slightly nuts. The only time I ever had anything to do with one was as a teen camp counselor; it was fun to shoot at targets with a 22.

But now I'm 65, and confused. I like the gun nuts, and the purity of their cause. They are like any other such group; once you mop up the various liquids on the floor, they are kind of fun. They devote all their resources in one directions, and aren't ambivalent. Refreshing.

A few months ago, I wrote to the NRA and offered to organize and fund a program to arm young minority men. The NRA seemed to have a problem, I said; the public perceived that they were basically white folks living in terror of non-white folks. What better solution could there be than free guns and training to those people of color too poor to live the real American way? The generic position of the gun nuts is that the world would be a better place if we were all armed; well, then, let me put my money where their mouth is. I got a nice reply saying they had no such program, but when they did, they would let me know.

If you look at the previous post, you know my concern about the loss of the commons -- basically, that we are all fully in the trough, snout and four feet and little curly tail, and couldn't care less if the rest of the bozos starved. In this tooth-and-claw world, what are the restraining forces?

Well, one of them is fear. I might be a little less willing to put my 39 items through the "12 items or fewer" line if there were the possibility that some Eastwoodian, bright-eyed gun nut was going to stick the barrel of his equalizer in my ear and ask if I wanted to rethink the consequences of my actions. "Go ahead, check out" would be the phrase. And I would gather up the offending items (cookies, ice cream, just all the bad stuff) and grovel my apology. I think gun nuts like people to grovel.

What if there were no guns in the picture? The person behind me would be fuming, miserable, and probably homicidal on the trip back home. Might say, "Hey, you got too many items!" And I would reply in my most fluent profanity, smile seraphically, and bag my items slowly. Which is the better outcome? I leave it to my faithful reader to decide. Please indicate your preference using the pro-gun-bearing or anti-gun-bearing items below:

A. Pro-gun-bearing: I think supermarket life will be more tranquil if I keep in mind that the person behind me in the checkout may be armed and willing to have a violent confrontation with me over my boorish behavior.

B. Anti-gun-bearing: I think supermarket life will be more tranquil if nobody in the supermarket is armed and I can just willy-nilly ignore considerate, civilized behavior as I do in all other areas of my life, causing great distress in those around me. What are they gonna do to me?????

Lemme know. Votes greatly appreciated!!!!!

And let's see if anyone can predict where the next series of 4 or 5 posts ends up, if I am clever enough to stretch it out and make it coherent. A prize is offered for the best prediction. No fair if you are the only entrant.

And I wonder what Mr. Reasonable would think of all this. More of Mr. Reasonable to come.