Ambrose Burnside
Today’s comic is oddly pro-responsible gun ownership.
The National Rifle Association was initially founded on good reasons – “Firearms Safety Education, Marksmanship Training, Shooting for Recreation,” as per their old slogan. The Civil War highlighted the need for proper gun training and the NRA was created to fill that need. Throughout the early 20th century, they were instrumental in helping Congress create several common sense gun control laws.
The tide changed in the mid-20th century as they established their political arm and took a heavy conservative dive. And as I wrote yesterday, went on to essentially become a co-equal branch of government that seems to have law-writing and veto powers over the country.
As of lot of you are probably aware, I’m no fan of guns. I don’t own guns and I have no desire to ever own them. But I do understand the argument of personal liberties and private responsible gun ownership, as much as I can. I also believe (as some of you have pointed out) that there’s a difference between someone who owns guns and the NRA.
I’m far from the first person to point out that the NRA probably doesn’t represent the views of most gun owners. If their “five million members” claim is to be believed, it still doesn’t come close to the up to 25% of the American people who own a firearm.
This is all to say that I ultimately don’t have a problem with people owning guns, as long as it’s in a responsible way that doesn’t put the rest of us in danger. I’m sure most agree with that statement.
What I do have a problem with is an unchecked unelected organization taking power and voice away from the American people (gun owning and non gun-owning, alike), taunting “civil rights” as a fake shield, while thousands are being killed every year to make rich companies richer.
Also, Ambrose Burnside is where we get the term “sideburns” from.
