Guns & Teddy Bears; 98% Stupidity

This is all over the Intertubes:

As lawmakers' session wound down early last month, [Illinois State Senator Dan] Kotowski had a small teddy bear on his Senate desk. A last-minute attempt to move legislation to limit the size of firearm ammunition magazines had stalled, but Kotowski had gotten the bear in an effort to make a point about gun regulation.

"Teddy bears are more regulated than guns," Kotowski said, arguing that while toys have to meet rigorous safety standards, guns don't have to go through the same testing.

That may be true as far as it goes, but it is a stupid coment nontheless, for a very obvious reason: Guns are not toys. Guns are not meant to be placed in the hands of toddlers. Guns are weapons. You might as well compare teddy bears to knives, hammers or chain saws.

Once the item hits the store shelves, then things change, of course. You can be a felon and legally purchase and possess a knife, a teddy bear or a chain saw. You don't have to have a background check done in order to buy those things. You don't get reported to the BATF if you were to buy two knives or teddy bears at a time. You don't have to be 18 or 21 to buy gasoline for a chain saw. You don't need a state permit in Massachusetts to own a teddy bear. You can carry a teddy bear openly, down the street of any metropolis without being arrested.

Kotowski is only a little less moronic than the comments of Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), who seems to think that gun magazines come pre-loaded with ammunition and cannot be reused. Maybe it's just me, but I'd think that a legislator who is going to offer opinions about any sort of kit has an obligation to at least try to understand the technology or devices that she is opining about. Note that she tried to backwater and say that she was referring to "clips", which she thinks can't be reloaded (an assertion which will surprise anyone who owns a M-1 or, for that matter any other firearm capable of being fed from clips).

Here is a rule I would like to offer: Anyone who says that "my proposals are a common-sense solution to (insert issue/problem here)" should immediately be punched in the throat. What they are trying to do (and the lazy-ass press lets them get away with it) is to marginalize their opponents, who are obviously not operating with common sense.

It is a very old rhetorical trick. By this point, it is one that the users should be called out on whenever they pull it.

Or just punch them in the throat. Either way.