What its come to...

Now consider the gravity of that statement, and what it means for children growing up in the US.  Not to mention what it says about us as a society.  And yet we are paralyzed by tribal gun freedom bullshit to the extent the likelihood of reinstating a ban on the kind of weapon used in the Newtown massacre, the kind of gun that serves no useful purpose outside of the military, even in the wake of the murder of 26 innocents, is already a nonstarter.

For one, because of lies like this that go unchallenged.  That end up being the basis for the craziness of guys like this who are paranoid out of their minds.  And here's what they believe:

SHAPIRO: I told you, why the general population of America, law-abiding citizens, need AR-15s.
MORGAN: Why do they need those weapons?
SHAPIRO: They need them for the prospective possibility for the resistance of tyranny. Which is not a concern today, it may not be a concern tomorrow.
MORGAN: Where do you expect tyranny to come from?
SHAPIRO: It could come from the United States, because governments have gone tyrannical before, Piers.
MORGAN: So the reason we cannot remove assault weapons is because of the threat of your own government turning on you in a tyrannical way.
SHAPIRO: Yes.

Crazy.

Yet these guys are all over the airwaves, spewing destructive, misleading nonsense such as this from Alex Jones during his incredibly ignorant, CNN rant:

Hitler took the guns, Stalin took the guns, Mao took the guns, Fidel Castro took the guns, Hugo Chavez took the guns!"  Jones ranted.  "And I am here to tell you, 1776 will commence again if you try to take our firearms!

And here's what happened when one gun conspiracy nutcase and Jones fan took his lies to heart:

Police: 3 Officers killed in Pa. shooting

Richard Poplawski, 23, met officers at the doorway and shot two of them in the head immediately, Harper said.  An officer who tried to help the two was also killed. 

Poplawski feared "the Obama gun ban that's on the way" and "didn't like our rights being infringed upon," said Edward Perkovic, his best friend.

Not only was there never any talk of banning guns in 2008, there was little discussion, let alone any legislative action, around the 2nd Amendment.  The most Obama has ever said on the subject was that he "respects Americans Constitutional rights to bear arms" but favors "common sense gun laws."

But paranoia is the lifeblood of the far right, and these people revel in senseless, false victim-hood, and that innocuous statement and the lack of action accompanying it was blown up into Hitler, Mao and Stalin false redux on guns.  Incredible.  And its sad, and frightening that they are so easily driven to such destructive acts by the likes of people like Jones.

In 1776 it was single shot muskets and citizen militias.  Today its machine guns, tanks and aircraft, drones and "smart weapons."  If the government did decide to go tyrannical, does anyone actually believe that a "Red Dawn" scenario is even possible up against the largest armed force in the world? Do they actually think wingnuts with no gun training whatsoever are going to fight off the US Army, if it ever came to that?  These idiots are more likely to blow off their own damned feet, or shoot their loved ones "accidentally," as is typically the case.

Do assault weapons serve any other purpose than what was done at Sandy Hook Elementary?  Had the Newtown shooter came to the school with a bolt action rifle, there would not have been 26 dead that day, and he would have been stopped long before the carnage that resulted.

If banning assault weapons, as they have been banned before, could accomplish that goal and save the lives of innocents, doesn't the welfare of our children demand nothing less?  Are we really that wedded to tribal nonsense and lacking in focus that we cannot do that much for our children?