Gun debate ends abruptly in Virginia as GOP-controlled legislature adjourns after 90 minutes
“Armed militia members and gun control activists had swarmed the grounds and streets outside the State Capitol building Tuesday morning, trying to sway lawmakers gathering for a special session to debate gun regulation in a state where 12 people died in a mass shooting in May.” …
“By 8:30 a.m. about 150 pro-gun demonstrators, several carrying assault rifles, gathered outside the white-columned building.” …
“As the pro-gun group headed inside, several members pulled out their gun permits.”
“Are you carrying?” a guard asked everyone who filed in, while the metal detector alarms rang again and again as they passed through.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
If I were a VA legislator, I would have left the meeting being faced with such a group of people opposing good sense and so armed. I think we need to be thinking about how we get along without reconciliation of differences since so many of the issues that divide us present us with the problem of there being hardly any chance of sensible and sane positions of compromise. To compromise with people who are not sensible and hardly sane is insane. What is a sensible compromise point with those who want to be allowed to carry guns into courtrooms and classrooms, legislative buildings and wherever and to be able to purchase weapons without sensibly rigorous background checks? How many other issues are there out there that really do present sensible and humane people who want to live peacefully with their neighbors with this problem? And how can such sensible and humane people accept laws and legislation that, even when drawn to compromise, compromise the human rights of others?
At this point, I cannot conceive of a plan to “heal” that will not do innocent people harm. Neither can I conceive of a way to go on as we are that prevent innocents from being harmed. The harm is being done by the legal system as it has been shaped to be, the school system as it has become what it is now, the economic system as it has been made to be, by the tolerance for brutality, unfairness, stupidity, ignorance that now characterizes our way of life. Maybe we can get some way toward good sense through education but revolutionary change would need to be made to the system to begin the process and such change is highly unlikely considering the way things are now.
