Guns: Hunting Obama's Elephants

Apologies for the light blogging these past few days. Having one of those periodic visits by what Churchill and others have called the "black dog." A little one, mind you, but nevertheless it interferes with my ability to engage in witty repartee of the blog-type. Let me explain. I am not talking about some clinical depression. I am talking about the black dog that bites you when you read the news, and see and hear the politicians--Democrat and Republican, American and foreign--prattle on about anything and everything except the facts. There are so many facts out there the size of elephants or at least the size of CTU President Karen Lewis, yet the world's politicians manage not to see them and to see, instead, what they believe in.

So many examples, so very many. I can only deal with a few.

One would think that a President of Kenyan heritage with many relatives still in that country would have an ability to spot and hunt elephants. Apparently not.

Let's start with the economy and government finances. Disaster. The elephants are everywhere, crushing the crops, knocking over the huts, flattening everything and everyone in their path. Nothing was resolved with the bizarre deal reached by Obama and the spineless GOP Congress. The government is spending at an increasing rate, at a rate that is not sustainable, and at a rate that threatens to destroy the entire economy and the very essence of American life, i.e., individual freedom. The debate over the growth of government programs should be about the effect of those programs on our individual freedoms, on the position of the United States in the world, as well as on our shrinking wallets. I don't see that debate. Instead we talk about nonsense.

In other words, instead of talking about the economy and the crazy government policies ruining it, we talk about guns. Yes, guns. Every liberal politician from Obama to Biden, Cuomo, Emanuel, Bloomberg, Villaraigosa, Brown, etc., and news outlet is full of concerns over "assault weapons." Yes, that is the greatest issue facing America. What is almost funny is that none of these pontificators can tell us what is an "assault rifle." I will tell you what it is. It is a made-up term meant to sound scary. It is like "global climate change," something which can be defined and redefined at will. It is a term used to frighten silly people whose knowledge of guns comes from watching Hollywood movies where every gang-banger has an arsenal of fully automatic weapons. It is a term meant to justify even more growth in government power and even further loss of individual freedoms.

Within the gun debate, of course, there are enormous elephants that the advocates of evermore government power will not see. How about this one? According to the FBI, "gun-infested" Utah has a homicide rate lower lower than "gun-free" England and Wales, not to mention that gunless paradise of Chicago. Could it be something else that generates chaos and violence? The destruction of the family? The rise of an entitlement culture?

 The gun grabbers might also want to note another elephant: gun sales and gun ownership have been exploding in the US, yet crime rates, including homicides, have been declining. How could that possibly be? Ignore the elephant, maybe it will go away.

As reported by CNN, even the government of Mexico has jumped in to argue for greater gun restrictions in the US, once again blaming law-abiding American gun owners for the carnage in Mexico. The government of Mexico should do its own elephant hunting, and concentrate on advocating an end to the insane "war on drugs" and, oh yes, demand that the Obama administration hold responsible the politicians and bureaucrats behind "Fast and Furious." One would think that the government of Mexico would have other more pressing things to worry about than my gun collection.

I am in a dark mood.