Soak Up The Sun

Well, DIA is closed because of a blizzard, and I'm stuck in sunny southern Califonia. Rats! I think I'll drive to the beach and assuage my disappointment with a nice margarita. Maybe go hang around some custom motorcycle shops in LA, or look at exotic goldfish. It's weird...I rarely have this sort of non-assigned time to myself anymore, and I'm a bit at a loss of what to do.

Before I go soak up the sun, here's a few pointers that clearly indicate that the culture has tipped regarding the general view of firearms:

A quick AP summary:

COLUMBINE IMPACT: Parents have rallied for tougher gun control laws since the 1999 school shooting that left 15 dead in Colorado.

DEBATE NOW: State legislators looking to ease restrictions, partly so possible victims can defend themselves.

From the Indianapolitc Star Tribune:

The gun issue has been underscored in recent months by a series of mass shootings in the Upper Midwest. The Red Lake shootings came a week after a gunman killed seven fellow churchgoers in a Milwaukee suburb and four months after a St. Paul man shot and killed six hunters near Hayward, Wis.

Schultz said the new Democratic leadership realizes that the battle over gun control is as much about conflicting cultural values as it is about the effectiveness of gun-control measures. "They're convinced that guns, along with values issues, have made them vulnerable," he said.

Meanwhile, Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress and the White House, have shown no inclination to raise the issue.

There's been a host of similar stories in recent weeks. I have a gut feeling that we've reached a tipping point, that the public as a whole has "lost interest" [for the time being!!!] in gun control groups and their amazingly vacuous "solutions" to societal ills. I also think the constant hammering from our side on the foolishness of "gun-free zones" is starting to have an effect.

The antigun strategy on the sunsetting of the AWB was an unmitigated disaster — none of the horror stories outlined by a breathless Diane Sawyer or a witless Dan Rather came to pass. Nobody was passing out AKs on street corners; police weren't slain by roving bands of brigands with full auto weapons. When you promise the Apocalypse and all you get is the day after tomorrow, it doesn't do wonders for your street cred.

I think the problem is that the antigun people know all their "ideas" are smoke and mirrors. They know their Empress has no clothes; they know that nothing they've ever suggested has worked in the Real World. And back to our gut level, I think the Powers-That-Be in Antigun World know that they do not now and have never had widespread public support outside of the northeastern urban corridor, the Left Coast and the occasional Nazi-run enclave like Chicago. And with a spate of popular movies concerning genocide, even the dimmest liberal [okay...not counting Ann Curry, Matt Lauer and Katie Couric] is starting to catch on to the Big Lie.

That's enough good news! I'm off to the beach!