“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin

This piece started off when I was asked for my $0.02 this weekend on something in the local paper (which I freely admit that I do still read), written by someone whom I consider an absolute imbecile (which I’d told my friend on multiple occasions what I thought of this particular writer).

Still, if this wasn’t coming from a friend of mine, it probably would’ve ended differently.

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If it were anyone else, I most likely would’ve either a.) just hit delete key and ignored it, or, b.) told them to get back to me after I was finished with my bowl of Captain Crunch and the Sunday Morning talking head shows.

I was in a generous mood, so I replied back

The article in question dealt with noted democratic party contributor Nolan Finley and his allegedly recent trip to the gun store to purchase a shotgun which he found in a local ad.

He claimed the he and the staff of the store in question were totally oblivious of the then-recent Texas Shootings and then went into a comical account of him jumping through the various hoops in order to complete his purchase.

I was first asked of what I thought about the story along with the truthfulness of it.

I replied back that despite a clearly written right contained not only in the US Constitution, but the Michigan Constitution as well, that yes, you are still required to ask the government for permission first before you can legally obtain a firearm.

I referred them to this light read on the issue.

As to the rest of the piece, I said that was not only extremely unlikely for a person in his position to be so ignorant regarding how to read, but how to use a computer keyboard as well. And in a 24-hour news-cycle world (especially when you‘re in the news business), it was equally unlikely that he wouldn’t be aware of a story that was all over the place.

I told them that I felt that he was attempting to make an allegorical point and failed at it miserably.

My friend then segued to what I thought about what was happening here in Michigan.

I had a pretty good idea where they were going so I started playing around a bit, I replied that they’ll need to get more specific. I said (truthfully) that there are bills being introduced all of the time. That there are bills in various stages in the pipeline before becoming law, that the guv was a notorious hoplophobe so anything that did get passed in both chambers wouldn’t actually get anywhere without a exceedingly unlikely (and politically embarrassing) veto override.

They asked what I thought of the protests over the weekend.

And that was the piece of the puzzle that I was missing.

The “protests” being referred to came from a group called “Moms Demand Action” and they were in Lansing last week to protest SB-584 thru SB-586 which would effectively squash the “no-carry/gun-free” zones in exchange for gutting open carry (and reinforcing the mandatory training requirement).

I needled my friend a little by telling them that about two dozen people doesn’t exactly count as a protest.

I was impressed though that a republican controlled body that wouldn’t touch the Michigan Income Tax, wouldn’t touch auto insurance reform, gave away millions to well-connected donors for urban revitalization (some of whom threatened to spend some serious $$$ to run ads against those who didn’t support auto insurance reform during re-election), not only miraculously were able to fast-track to third reading a package of bills that won’t go anywhere, but drank the kool aid and thought that re-introducing one portion of a right by infringing on another part of the same right was now somehow okay.

I finished by asking them just how well gun control works in Detroit, Chicago and DC? I understand that the body count from all of those gun laws is easily in the four-digit range for just this year alone.

After that, I had enough fun that morning.

If they wanted to continue the conversation, I told them they should just come over to my house and help rake leaves. I’d be more than happy to continue it at that time.

The fact they never arrived that day should tell people all they need to know on their resolve on that topic.

Kind of like the republicans in the Michigan Legislature.