In Brief: Gun Guy Is Full of Shit:
In case you missed it, go on over to the New York Times and read columnist Joe Nocera's conversation with self-proclaimed "Gun Guy," Dan Baum. Baum is a gun lover who thinks gun control advocates are too intolerant, but that the NRA is a bunch of assholes, too. In the interview, Baum comes across as an arrogant and naive fool, someone who has no fucking clue about the political reality of the moment. He's one of those people who wants to piss on both sides without really understanding that the two are not, actually, equal.

He opposes limits on magazines and certain assault weapons, but he's open to a great deal of regulation. Here's what he says he supports (and that, according to him, a silent plurality, at least, of gun owners support): "If a gun guy leaves his gun in the glove compartment of a car and it’s stolen and used in a crime, perhaps he should be criminally liable. If a gun guy leaves a gun unlocked and a child finds it and kills himself or somebody else, that gun guy should perhaps be liable. And laws that require people to lock their guns up, I think they’re great. Report them if they’re stolen." He also supports background checks and that if you get a license to carry a gun "you have to be trained at least as well as a police officer." Gun guys, he claims, are down with this, too. But don't try to take shit away from him.

Now, speaking as a pretty ardent gun control proponent, the Rude Pundit would say to Baum, "Okay, motherfucker. Put your ass where your rhetoric is. I'll give up the bans if you can get liability laws, lock laws, universal background checks, and police-level training requirements passed." In fact, that kind of deal would be very, very difficult for anyone pro-gun control to pass up. It would be an amazing advance in our approach to guns. But the fact that we might accept that demonstrates how Baum, who literally says, "A pox on both their houses," is full of shit and understands dick about politics.

Because, see, the NRA and their lackeys in Congress and on most state legislatures are gonna look at that list and say, "That's not gonna happen."

The difference, dear, dumb Gun Guy, is that one side is willing to compromise and one side is not. One side is reasonable and one side is not. If gun control advocates were as intolerant as the NRA, we'd be calling for the confiscation of all guns.

Except for some fringe groups, we're not. But, really, don't let our rational beliefs spoil your fucking bullshit narrative. Don't let it get in the way of claiming that people who don't shoot guns don't understand guns, that nonsensical canard, the supposed trump card of the argument, especially when conservatives believe that non-educators should make decisions about education and that non-scientists should make science decisions.

Paleontologists never saw a real dinosaur. But that doesn't prevent them from commenting on the dessicated bones.

(Tip o' the hat to rude reader Deb for the heads up on the Gun Guy.)