The NRA and Guns, Ibid. Alex Jones

The rabid, almost psychotic reactions of gun enthusiasts and its body politic, the National Rifle Association when President Barack Obama placed initiatives to control the sale of automatic weapons speaks of the fanatical almost religious zeal the NRA and its brood of gun-o-philes sees its right to own weapons, even military grade. Their oft repeated logic: only by increasing gun ownership can the safety of individual citizens and their families be truly secured. Yet studies have consistently shown that among OECD countries, America has consistently ranked high, indeed number 1, in gun related deaths. Of course, the NRA will have none of this. The argument will then move on to the Second Amendment. Indeed, this is the be-all and the end-all of its paramount no-excuse dogma that gun ownership is a constitutionally guaranteed right, and because it is so, it cannot be regulated. The NRA, in essence, practically wants an unlimited exercise of that right, but alas, even rights have to be regulated, that is why in our constitutionally guaranteed right to free speech, there are attendant laws that accompany the exercise of such right such as libel and slander laws.

It is unfathomable that the likes of Alex Jones shout there away around gun arguments, as if to prove that by their crass loudness, they are able to articulate a more reasoned approach to the discussion. For the NRA and its single minded gun lovers, it is all or nothing - fanaticism at its height indeed. In fact, their insistence that their way is the only way smacks of religious fanaticism that we have become inconveniently accustomed to lately.

The NRA's insistence on a free for all gun spree smacks of common sense and elementary self-reflection, it is like saying that to lessen the incidence of household fires, each resident of the house should be provided with a lighter. The NRA seems to forget that violence becomes more accessible when instruments to its mass perpetration becomes conveniently accessible and widely available. In 2008, there were approximately 12,000 gun-related violence in the U.S.,  in Japan, were gun ownership is even more strict, there were 11.

Of course, if you ask the NRA, you will get the same diatribe about how guns keep the peace, ensures security for the individual and his family, and guarantees that the government will not become tyrannical, and if it does, then to shoot at it. Jeeez, not only is such arguments convoluted and primeval, it is almost juvenile and immature. There is a need therefore for the likes of Alex Jones, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh to see a shrink!