Wallowing in the dirt: Internet debates about the Colorado/Dark Knight shootings

Article II. A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the States to maintain Armed Militias shall not be infringed." Bill of Rights, United States Constitution

I am a strong supporter of the Second Amendment (hell, if you dont start a piece with that line these days, you get demands to be investigated by the defunct HUAC) , but I also dont believe that anyone I know needs to be able to arm themselves with all the trappings of a small army. So, yes, Ill tell you at the outset of this piece that I believe in gun control, even though we have a gun in our home for protection.

The shootings in Colorado, after their initial horror, have given way to the insipid debates over the Second Amendment we so often see on the Internet, though this time completely divorced from reality. The dead in the theater are an inconvenience to some who push the hard-core Second Amendment argument at all costs, no matter who is in the body bags.

Though the debates I have read - and to some degree taken part in - have been online - in truth they take place in some vast graveyard, too large and too-peopled to be tended well, and expanding all the time. We lean against mossy tombstones and make witty remarks and score political points at our opponents expense.

We have a comfortable myth in this country that gun owners are repelling invaders on a daily basis, but aside from the occasional news story, most of the stories you will read about in the news have to do with random violence.

Family members.

Strangers in restaurants.

Patrons in bars.

Church goers.

Shoppers in malls.

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Wallowing in the dirt: Internet debates about the Colorado/Dark Knight shootings