A tough order to deliver on...

I think about a lottashit a lottathe time. One of the things I spend more thought-time on than some others is the issue of civil firearms possession. The word "civil," there, can be considered in its wide range of definition.

There's a dilemma here. After every "mass-shooting," instances in which a human-appearing creature uses a firearm to apparently kill everyone it can before dying in the proverbial blaze of gunfire, there is a flare of activism both to restrict firearms access and to loosen--or at least to not further restrict--firearms access.

We'd all like to assure ourselves that a person inclined to shoot a bunch of kids before dying at his own hand or that of others can't get hold of a gun and ammo. That's a tough order to deliver on.

The simplest solution is to move in the direction of a total ban on pistols, military-appearing short rifles and carbines (especially those that accept interchangeable magazines), and a few other classes of firearms. Essentially that would leave sporting shotguns and rifles legal for everyone who has never had a cross word with law enforcement.

That is what is happening as we watch, and will proceed until you will have to perform fellatio on a federal judge to get a permit to own even a sporting weapon. It is inconceivable to me that current legal interpretation of "the right to keep and bear arms" will trend toward less-restrictive interpretations in the future. Not that anyone should pay any attention to my political prognostication.

I admire fine firearms. I admire efficient firearms. I am barred from purchasing a firearm from a federally-licensed firearms dealer (all gun stores and pawnshops, and more), but not from purchasing a gun from any non-licensed  person. The currently newsworthy gun law amendments that appear to have failed would have at least made it risky for anyone to sell me a gun. I can't buy from a dealer because the feds know I smoke weed. As of today, it is not illegal for me to have firearms. I can buy one from anyone who will sell me one, and it's legal for anyone without a Federal Firearms License to sell me his personal firearm.

The Party of Limited Government is over-represented by folks in office who appear to think it advisable to regulate uterine commerce. "Billions and billions of pre-born people slaughtered!"

The Party of Big Government responds by attacking the rights of members of the Party of Limited Government to shoot each other. "The most likely person to be shot is the person carrying the gun!"

And the official position of all of 'em is that I shouldn't be able to buy a weapon from a dealer, where the transaction becomes a permanent record, but half of 'em think it's okay for me to buy a weapon that will be harder to trace. All of 'em think I should be in jail for smoking weed.