That is, of course, a paraphrase. But an accurate one, as you will see.
Charlie Pierce of Esquire‘s blog was on The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell on Friday as part of a panel to advocate for gun control and bash the NRA. Pierce did not disappoint. But as part of his remarks, he said one thing that is pretty mind-boggling.
“I look at the gun as merely the technological manifestation of a real wildness in our political culture.”
I want you to think about that. The gun is “merely” the “manifestation.” The gun isn’t guilty, you see, the gun is merely the instrument of the guilty. The guilt lies instead with our political culture.
Does that sound familiar to anyone? Guns don’t kill people, (Republican) people kill people. Pierce is inadvertently embracing a core belief, or rather fully logical thought, that we pro-Second Amendment folks have been making for, oh . forever. He may have the wrong bad guy, and even the wrong cause, but he has – entirely unwittingly to be sure – espoused something that should be self-evidently true.
Guns don’t kill people. People kill people. The gun is merely the manifestation of some other ill or evil.
What is even more amazing/perplexing is that he is further implicitly agreeing that simply removing the instrument doesn’t remove the ill, in his view that of evil GOP wildness. I say perplexing because he’s arguing for gun control the practice by arguing against gun control the philosophy. Boggling.
And lest you doubt precisely who he means to blame, that being the GOP, please see below.
Guns don’t kill people. Republicans kill people. That’s his argument. His absurd, half-logical, half-mad argument.
I think he should just go back to running Jurassic Park and leave the rest of us alone.
