Surviving the World

A Photocomic Education by Dante Shepherd

Lesson #2689 - Gun Debate

The biggest thing I saw yesterday when the relatively moderate gun control measures were announced - beyond yet another chorus of 'criminals will be criminals, so why bother doing anything' form of nihilism - were a couple pundits saying 'This was an opportunity to bring people together, and Obama failed.' Which is a crock, I think we can all agree, because the only way everyone is going to be happy on the subject is if people are magically transported to two different planes of existence where everyone and everything is the same but guns either exist or don't exist in your preferred plane of existence.

I can accept that people own guns and people may even own far dangerous guns than I am comfortable with being in existence. If you want to own a gun, good for you. I don't accept the argument that any regulation making it harder for people to get guns is unacceptable. It should not be an easy process to get to own a gun. It's a dangerous weapon. You should have to prove that you are healthy enough to own one and that you are responsible enough to own one. I had to prove that I could drive by taking a test and have to keep on proving that I can see well enough in order to get my license and have it renewed. Yes, it's annoying but some annoyances have reasons behind them and are relatively reasonable.

Maybe new regulations don't solve all the issues of criminals still being criminals, but not everything is only about criminals. Sure, mental health is a serious concern as well, but not everything is only about mental health. All I really want in the end is accountability. If you can show you're healthy and responsible enough, then go ahead, own an arsenal if you really want. Yes, maybe the process is a little harder and longer for you, but you have to be willing to compromise if we're willing to compromise.

I don't know. I think we'll probably just keep going on around the circle until the inevitable heat death of the universe.

Fun times!

Baseball-themed comic likely coming tomorrow. Hall of Fame voting gets announced today! I have been addicted to Ryan Thibodaux's vote counter for the last month. Fingers crossed that Tim Raines gets close enough that he'll be elected for sure next year.