Some horrific act occurs--a violent criminal steals a firearm and goes on a killing spree, terrorists kill scores of innocents, a drunk drives his car into a crowd, a wild animal kills a jogger, etc., etc--and the bleeding hearts cry, "There ought to be a law...." We now have so many laws that a whole industry thrives trying to interpret (and circumvent) them, and none of these laws have the slightest effect on those who would do wrong. (Did anyone ever stop to think that, by definition, criminals are those who make their living breaking laws and that only those who are honest feel bound by laws. Hey! We have laws against, murder, kidnapping, and rape, and they occur with alarming regularity.)


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An actor puts a .44 magnum loaded with blanks in his ear and pulls the trigger and his estate sues the gun manufacturer. A man gets drunk and drives his $50,000 sports car into a bridge at 100 mph and his estate sues the beverage manufacturer and the car manufacturer. A woman puts a hot cup of coffee between her thighs and drives off in her car burning herself and she sues the restaurant chain. A jogger, alone and unarmed, in a wilderness area is attacked by a wild animal and she sues the state government. There are even warnings on computer keyboards now warning of risk of injury by using them!

Now products ranging from airplanes to plastic bags now carry warnings that you risk death and dismemberment (or worse) if you do something incredibly stupid with them. Cups of hot coffee now all carry warnings "Warning! Contents Hot." Duh? Plastic wrap and bags carry warnings not to put over your face. Sets of kitchen knives have "Danger! Sharp!" warnings advising the user not to put fingers under them.

It use to be that people actually had enough brains to know that firearms, knives, hammers, drills, automobiles, hot things, chemicals, and wild animals could do you serious injury if mishandled. If they did something stupid they owned up to it, accepted the consequences, and didn't try to blame others for their stupidity.

Lawyers are getting rich suing companies because someone used a product in a stupid manner and got hurt.

Maybe there ought to be a law! A law simply banning S T U P I D I T Y !
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Then there is the trend for the government to protect us from firearms by passing laws. Firearms are banned because the "look" evil" or have such things as flash hiders, vertical grips, or bayonet lugs. Bayonet lugs? When was the last time you heard of a 7-11 being held up at bayonet point? In some jurisdictions simply changing the configuration of the wood stock makes you a felon. Large capacity magazines? I feel so much safer since new magazines over 10 round capacity were banned. Consider this. Someone is pointing a pistol with a magazine capacity of 15 rounds at you. Then they remove 5 rounds from the magazine and point the pistol at you. There, don't you feel safer? As for sustained fire, with a modicum of training a person can learn to swap magazines in about 1 second.


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Now the new trend is to make even minor or non violent offenses a felony or to treat them as a felony, and thus proscribe the person from ever owning a firearm. States like NJ are violating ex post facto and passing laws that are retro-active, turning otherwise honest citizens into felons who then have their doors kicked in to "protect" the public. The government is not interested in public safety and order. Even if everyone lived by the Golden Rule the government would still find ways to make that a crime so that they could lord their power over the citizens and make the government employees superior to the ordinary people.


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How about concealed weapons permit holders. Folks with CCW permits undergo a tighter background check in many cases than law enforcement folks, yet they can't carry in many places--because they can't be trusted.


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Of course there is always the issue of political correctness. You can actually be arrested and jailed in many places because you utter something about another person or their life style that someone with too much time on their hands overhears. Meanwhile the utter lack of morals, self control, and honesty among members of the government is "OK."


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Another thing that really gets me is the shallowness of many "friendships" and number of people with the "what's in it for me attitude." They may claim to be a friend but the first time you find yourself in tough times or in need they are conveniently no where to be found. Or, if it suits the occasion or they need to look good, they can speak ill of you to others yet smile to your face if you have what they want or need. I have experienced this enough times and have had others speak of it that I truly believe that honesty, integrity, morals are dying in our civilization
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