Tom the Dancing Bug by Ruben Bolling for April 12, 2013

It’s always a slippery slope, and you can always extrapolate to a ridiculous extreme.

I’d assumed from the first panel that this was about vehicle ownership. But then I’m not American, and gun owners are thin on the ground where I am.

I always wonder when we are going to grow up…adults shouldn’t want to play cowboys and indians.

How is this a false comparison? Panel one shows a well-regulated militia.

Oh my goodness. Every one should just lighten up. It’s a comic strip? It’s funny. I think it’s supposed to be funny. Just sayin’

As a whimpering liberal (and a gun owner), I would also include mandatory training in the proper use of firearms for gun buyers in gun legislation. That might also be a way to screen out or at least identify potential crazies.

Or people contemplating suicide.

@cessna172It used to be a car, before the motor law. Now, it is… still a car.

@KenseidenXLI always get a kick when the right accuse the left of not having any facts when in actuality it is the right that avoids facts. If you doubt me just listen to Fox News, Rush Limbaugh or read the Dudge report, Ann Coulter to name a few.

Also the the slippery slope argument is null and void. It just doesn’t happen.

Agreed. I think a lot of people live in a paranoid world in which the only possible outcome of a strong central government is pure tyranny. This was the viewpoint of the South during the formative years of our country and clearly the sentiment is alive and well, even in the absence of strong supporting evidence.

Not really such a big deal… all sorts of people propose violent overthrow of the government for one reason or another… some more seriously than others. I think I’d worry more about their implied belief that a handful of guys with deer rifles could take on the whole US army (it may be evidence of some sort of cognitive dissonance?). Much of the noise about gun control comes from people unable to imagine what the other side is talking about. When you live at the end of 20 miles of bad road it’s pretty clear that guns are a good thing and it’s hard to imagine why anyone would want to take them away without having some sinister motive. When you live in the inner city where a shot fired in any direction will threaten life and property and the guns are mostly in the hands of gangsters it’s hard to understand people who talk about gun owners being responsible people. In between, out in the suburbs and small towns, where houses have lawns and there’s space between buildings feelings tend to be mixed.

Some guns rights advocates would argue that anyone should be able to buy a 100 round magazine since, if they were prohibited, there would be a black market in them… I would say… maybe so but when I read about the movie theater shooting I found myself wondering, “How can you buy something like that without getting on someone’s radar?” You’d think that law enforcement would have some interest in checking out the buyer (however discretely). I’ll also buy into the argument that the difference between an “assault” rifle and a hunting rifle is mostly cosmetic but there is a voice in the back of my head that reminds me that those cosmetic differences do appeal to people who go for the “cool factor” and may not be emotionally mature enough to be deal with the gun on a level of pure functionality.

Fortunately, those are the vocal minority of gun owners and N.R.A. members. The majority, sane, sensible, and secure, know that while not going to prevent every tragedy with a firearm, good governance can help to reduce the numbers of wanton murders.As a gun owner, licensed to carry concealed, and to purchase and sell firearms, a one-time Firearms and Firearms Safety Instructor, I am strongly in favor of: 1) shutting the loopholes on gun registration; 2) universal background check ( I don’t have anything to hide… do you ? ); 3) mandatory safety and training prior to first purchase; 4) Hunter Safety training for kids who are going to use a firearm to hunt with Dad or shoot on a range: 5) Licensing and registration of modern handguns and semi-automatic rifles ( If my weapon is stolen, I don’t want to be blamed if it is used in a crime ); 6) Large capacity ammo clips limited to law enforcement and military or to vetted and licensed individuals; 7) A National Ballistic Data Base ; and 8) Tougher laws and more authority to crack down own illegal cross-state gun traffickers.Liberal Wish List ? Hell No ! Anti-Second Amendment ? Not a chance ! Just a sensible suggestion by a gun owner who’s not paranoid !!

Does your head hurt?

And the reason the data is available from a medical school rather than from a government agency is, as I understand it, because the NIH is not allowed to do studies on death and injuries from firearms. I would have to guess that Someone, Somewhere, put that restriction in place because they were afraid that it would undermine their arguments.I am not categorically opposed to people having guns but I think it’s pretty obvious that a lot of them are in the wrong hands.

they took away my carbinethey took away my carthey stole all my white lightningi had stored inside a jar

they took away my memoryi forget the reason whythey took away my dignitynow all i do is cry

(chorus)cry, cry, crymy country’s gone awaycry, cry, cryit’s been buried in a graveif i can’t have a magazineor better yet a drumi might have a conniption fitand cry until i’m numb

they took away my biblei had hoped to read somedaythey took away dear santa clauswhen i got to the 8th grade

they took away my equitywhen the market had a fitthey took away my favorite steerand left me with his shit

(repeat chorus)

they took away my pappyafter the old man diedto be fair he began to smella truth i won’t deny

they took away my countrythat was mine by divine rightsometimes i hear the nativescrying in the night

(repeat chorus)

Heller v DC upheld 2A as an individual right. It is now on par with Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion. Any restriction must be held to the same standards as restrictions on the First Ammendment. At a minimum. There’s always that pesky “shall not infringe” language.