Gun activists read BfA!

by David Safier

How fulfilling is that? I write a little post about Chester Manning's "Shoot With the New Sheriff" campaign event, and I get eight comments telling me to get over it. Who knew all those people were BfA fans?

Let me make a general reply to the commenters who think I'm making too big a deal about a machine gun shoot as campaign event and, typical of this kind of commenter, accuse me of saying something I didn't say.

I'm not advocating taking away people's guns. I don't want to shut down shooting ranges. If someone wants to arrange, say, a birthday party machine gun shoot, that's fine by me so long as it's safe and legal. Though I'm not a gun owner or shooter, I've shot guns in the past. I agree. It's fun.

But let's not have political events where people shoot guns. Let's not connect campaigning with firing off weapons. Campaign events are pro-us/anti-them events. When politicians talk about how wonderful they are and how awful their opponents are, then people fire guns at targets, the linkage between the opponent and the object in the gunsights, even if it's unintentional, is inescapable.

Go shoot your guns safely whenever the spirit moves you. Let politicians talk about second amendment rights as part of their campaigns if they want. But we've had too many political assassinations in this country to link the act of politicking with the act of shooting firearms. In the interest of gun safety and, in the case of Pima County, human decency, don't hold "Shoot With the New Sheriff" campaign events.