The big divide on guns

There are people I respect in other areas who I consider completely unhinged on guns.

One  example is a well known Libertarian filk songwriter. After the Orando massacre at a gay bar she said the problem was that the bar and patrons were not carrying their own guns. The problem of anyone being able to quickly buy a civilian version of a military assault rifle converted to semi automatic and having a large magazine she refused to acknowledge or consider a problem.

When I pointed out that the bar had an armed security officer who was immediately killed she blamed the stupid security officer and the bar for only having one.

She also blamed the FBI for not keeping track of "Jihadists" because surveillance of religious minorities even if born in America should be a priority according to this Libertarian.

I also found similar opinions among the leaders of the Sad and Rabid Puppies attacking diversity in the Hugo Awards and their followers. Some of these are talented in writing if on the wrong side of a culture war.

A few decades a very fringe idea that the 2nd Amendment was an unrestricted right for all Americans to have any type of gun started being pushed by a few of the radical right. It took over the NRA which had been a mainstream group supporting gun owners and manufacturers. It infiltrated the Republican Party which was beginning its sharp right turn with the influx of Southern conservative racist Democrats fleeing a party which supported Civil Rights. It entered the more conservative legal schools. And it made it to the Republican judges on the Supreme Court.

My position is clear. Weapons solely designed for killing people quickly and easily and on a mass scale do not belong in civilian hands. If you believe they do there is something wrong with your values.

I do not know how to get this attitude of gun rights over human lives back under the rock from whence it came. Sad and dangerous times.