So then let's just get rid of all the stop signs.

[calimary]

31. TOTALLY!!!! They are critically important, and considering the nature of them,

it is no exaggeration or hysterical hyperbole to say that it's a matter of life and death. 'Cause it IS.

Heck, I'd go so far as to offer further inducements NOT to sell a gun across the backyard fence or something - to a friend, neighbor, somebody you presumably know. Or even to lend it to them. If THEY turn around and do something murderous with it - it should trace back to YOU, and YOU should share in the liability and the criminality.

I like deterrents. I like 'em a LOT. It's part of a multi-pronged approach that we do need to get something effective done about this problem. This is a START. There should be forbiddings - and there should be motivationals. Imagine: how many FEWER straw sales or gun exchanges might there be if the unsuspecting neighbor thinks nothing of selling or lending a gun to one of the dudes from elsewhere in the neighborhood - and then finds himself/herself facing some pretty severe penalties? There would be a dampening effect. Absolutely.

And, again, it might be mild or even temporary. But just imagine - maybe instead of 20 kids getting mowed down by a young nutcase who stole his mom's mass-murder machine and accessories - it might be 12 kids. Or ten. Or, hell, even three to five. THAT MANY FEWER parents left with gaping holes in their hearts for the rest of their lives. THAT MANY FEWER burials of those little coffins. THAT MANY FEWER families in the worst imaginable anguish - FOR LIFE.

Isn't it worth it? Isn't it a worthwhile quest - to try to slow the madness down or put obstacles in its path, so there will be fewer victims and less collateral damage?

Hey, let's make it a right-to-life issue, 'eh?

Or how 'bout - WHY do your Second Amendment rights trump MY First Amendment right - to life and all else? WHY do your Second Amendment rights to own mow-down machines and massacre machines and weapons of mass destruction outweigh MY right to life and safety and the freedom from being mowed down by some civilian with access to his/her own hand-held WMDs and all the ammo clips they can eat? Why does their Second Amendment right to suppress any discussion, any research on gun violence, any studies on statistics of violent crime and gun usage override MY First Amendment right to free speech? We can't even TALK about this in the Senate because of your Second Amendment right to silence us??? EXCUSE ME?????

I think we ought to start putting it that way. And we ought to get creative about it. This is a multi-pronged problem that demands a multi-pronged approach. It needs to be confronted in MANY MANY MANY MANY MANY MANY MANY MANY MANY different ways. Both pushing in the direction we want, and pulling in the direction we want. We MUST start doing that. The opposition has done that, for years, going after protecting their rights to their "Second Amendment remedies" in legions of ways and strategies and approaches. They come at it from all angles. Inside and outside. Left and right. Up and down. Upside down, backwards, inside-out, sideways, and zig-zagged. Top and bottom, and all angles in between. We have to do that, too. We haven't been. We've been kind of monotone and monolithic. Going after only one thing. One single campaign at a time. We have to think of ALL THINGS. ALL WAYS. ALL APPROACHES! And at the same time!

My sparring teacher at the local karate school encouraged us all to "keep 'em busy." He liked the constant barrage of jabbing. Jab! Jab! Jab! Just keep jabbing. Keep coming at 'em. Keep 'em busy. He told of one tournament in which one of the two sparring opponents had a broken arm. All he could do was just keep jabbing and jabbing and jabbing with the one good arm. And he wound up winning. NEVER let up, NEVER let the opponent get a break, NEVER let 'em catch their breath. Jabs kept coming from all sides, all directions, overhead, underneath, hooks, upper cuts, you name it. He wore the opponent down. The opponent couldn't keep up, and couldn't anticipate what was coming next - or from where. And it worked. Keep 'em busy!

Look what the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has done - there are laws in states that are coming from ALL directions, against voting rights, immigrants rights, women's rights, workplace rights, reproductive rights, and they're keeping us busy fighting on a thousand fronts - so many it's hard to keep track and once you think you've got it on one issue, you have but to turn around and there are 13 or 14 other cancers metastasizing all around you, in areas where it never even occurred to you to be on guard.

WE NEED TO DO THAT!!!!! Keep THEM busy for a change, with all these confrontations coming at them from every direction at all times. Keep 'em busy. Never EVER let up. Never give up. Keep 'em busy.