BANG BANG, YOU'RE DEAD!

When I was a lad, we played cops and robbers or its variant, cowboys and Indians. We all had cap pistols, and slaughtered each other out of hand. No one wanted to be a robber or an Indian, but the game had to be played; somehow we figured out who was which. While it is true that I lived where Murder Incorporated hung out, we never were aware of its activities. None of our parents had guns that we knew of, but good guys and bad guys were always on our minds and guns were part of life.

Not much has changed. The Newtown killer's mom was a prepper, one of those anticipating some sort of apocalypse and prepared herself with weapons, in the process familiarizing her son with shooting and the general usefulness of guns. John Wayne and his ilk had some sort of ethic which always resulted in his shooting faster than the bad guys thus cleansing the world of evil. People have a holy need to kill animals for sport and there is the belief that a weapon in the home will protect against invaders, free lance or governmental. And for those of a more paranoid bent, the expectation of having to fight off the bad guys in the city streets requires they pack heat. I'm told that several Jewish men of the orthodox sort, carry weapons, I suppose because killer anti-Semites are everywhere. And now, people are buying guns, often more than one either anticipating anarchy or anticipating they might make a huge profit when the government decides to ban their sales.

What to do? As far as I can tell, unless Mr. Biden is particularly clever (the devil is in the details), the ideas tossed around will be almost useless. Yes, they will probably reduce the killings by moderately deranged killers who hate schools and children but do little to curb the more massive gun violence in our society. There is not a problem, there are two. What to do about the loner, his (Do women do this?) life filled with rage, who goes off and shoots in some kind of passion requires different solutions from the criminal who uses his weapon to commit crimes.

Banning assault weapons, and large magazines, restricting the sale of ammunition and mental health background checks will not, I repeat will not affect a criminal's use of guns. Yes, background checks would be useful so that known bad guys and bad girls are weeded out. But weapons are so easily acquired that such would not solve the problem. The solution I offer is Draconian, but considering the slaughter in out society, I propose that anyone who has ever provided a gun in a crime be equally prosecuted. “Your honor, my gun was stolen; I'm not responsible for how the thief used it.”

“Sorry, you should have kept it locked up.” Bartenders who give a drink to a drunk who crashes a car into someone can be prosecuted. Surely, we can do that with guns.

You all notice the hoorah raised by the NRA and gun lovers in our fifty states. Their passion is not fake, on the fringe they speak about killing people should there be an attempt to take their guns away. Yes, they usually have more than one. Whence this passion? I suggest that owning a weapon creates a sense of power much like we felt as children. We live in a society which purportedly infringes on our freedoms; there are too many rules, we cannot make choices without stumbling over some regulatory nonsense. People who express such concerns are persistently in fear of attack by criminals or the government and their solution is to get a gun.

Keep in mind that gun ownership is sacrosanct, that the second amendment guarantees that we are free to own whatever instrument of mayhem we choose without governmental permission. There are even some who walk around with their weapons in a holster, is that not flaunting power? I heard of some men who walked around with assault-type weapons; when the police came they said they wanted to show how peaceful they were. It is the thrust for power that drives the current madness. And, the way to beat bad- guy power is to make sure there is balancing good-guy power. Don't forget John Wayne ; killing the bad guys makes for peace.

I am really likely to cower

When facing one who demands personal power

Rooty toot toot

He might draw and me shoot

Unless when I draw he is slower.