NRA gun threat is hollow scream
“Breaking news,” folks, the Second Amendment will never be removed from the Constitution, contrary to the National Rifle Association’s “The sky is falling,” rant and the Second Amendment bullies.
The amendment is basic to our right as Americans. But the Republican right and paranoid recreation-gun demographic wants us to believe the boogie man, at this moment, is breaking into our homes, and we need immediate use of our hardware, a la, Charleston Heston’s, “From these cold hands,” theatrical antics, as he held up a musket, as if the issue is existentially life or death.
On a more rational path, an elderly gentleman, 86 years old, recently argued, he has owned various guns all his life, and never in his life has he had the occasion to use the guns, even for home protection.
The reality he speaks to, is that, data has shown very few people in their lifetime will experience this ominous specter we are led to accept as an urgent remedy for what is, supposedly, lurking around the corner.
The hoop and holler that our guns being taken away is a hollow scream and belies the argument that this issue is a tenable debate, but is in fact, merely an ideological straw man.
Jess Sanchez Barroso, Fresno
This story was originally published August 17, 2016 at 2:18 PM with the headline "NRA gun threat is hollow scream."