This cartoon picture is representative of the error in thinking amongst radical right wing extremists. It is understood that a soldier knows the risks he or she takes when signing up for the military – it is in their job description! Should students in America have to sign the same contract a soldier does? Of course not. There is no reasonable expectation of soldiers to be in a "safe place" when they march off to war for our country. Students, on the other hand, are supposed to be in a safe place when they step foot on a college campus. How can a logical person even attempt to make this kind of comparison between a student and a soldier? Note the mockery of the student, as though students in America are all hipsters or hippies.
It is odd to me that the same people who despise certain people at airports and clamor on and on about how they cannot report a person for fear of being called racist are the same people who want to own an assault rifle "just because" they can. Directly ignoring the safety of others, especially children, simply so they can shoot off rounds at a BBQ one or two days per year does not seem to be a perfectly good reason to ignore the current situation in America. The people who falsely feel that their "rights" have somehow been violated are the same people who constantly gripe and moan about not allowing immigrants into the country; they complain about how "Pedro is taking all of our jobs" which is another falsehood. They care only about themselves; they feel no pity for the hungry, the needy, or the destitute. They say things like "they have the opportunity, they are just lazy people."
There is one perfectly good word for these types of people: selfish. It is extremely selfish to believe that their enjoyment of an assault weapon is more important than the safety of children or other people in general. Why does one need to own an AR-50? No one hunts with that weapon, as it would shred any meat available to eat. There is no reason to own a gun like that other than it being an ignorant toy to shoot around friends. Showing off for friends is not more important than dead children.
Overgeneralizing the facts about the proposed solution to gun control is also an issue. I have seen many conservative posts regurgitating lies regarding Obama wanting to take all guns away. First, that is not what he is proposing – he is proposing a ban on assault rifles, which is one of many different points in the proposal - the bulk of the proposal has to do with mental health awareness and safety training. However, like The Bible, the radicals want to cherry-pick from the proposal and spread fear and hate. Leave it to the social media hags of the United States of America to entice hate and fear among the ignorant people.
One such case is a person in my own family who firmly believes in owning assault rifles basically just because he can. He eats, breathes, and lives the radical Republican lifestyle. This means he is constantly talking about politics (which generally encompasses a rephrasing of the last thing he heard on Fox News), religion, and quite frankly everyone around him cannot stand to talk to him for more than 5 minutes at a time. He gets very angry when he is opposed and his go-to method of dealing with this anger is to call people unattractive. The last debate was over the current gun issue and his belief system allowed him to use the words "logic" and "God" in the same sentence. His logic is simple: Do not kill babies in the uterus because that is God's child, however it is not his job or duty to make sure those same children he "saved" have food, clothing, or shelter. He believes that most Americans (and by most, I mean anyone making less money than him) are lazy and have all the opportunities in the world, they just "choose" not to work hard for success. He believes that our Founding Fathers were men who intended the 2nd Amendment to mean assault rifles too. He believes that he is the smartest person around and no one actually "gets it." A quote from one of his social media pages: "Don't you dare tell us to be tolerant. God Bless America." And yet he claims to be Christian (radical at that)....because Jesus was not tolerant, right? This is not an unusual story or pattern by any means and these types of people can be found lurking and trolling social media sites hourly.
The problem arises from radicalism, be it politics or religion, wherein a person is unable to critically think about an issue. Without being able to put aside fear, hate, and belief systems, a person will never be able to come to a practical solution for any issue – let alone the harder issues our country faces. How can the hypocritical nature of radicals even be considered as sane by some people? These same people are all about tradition and living an earlier lifestyle where God and country will always beat out civil rights and compromise. Furthermore, they get angry and more radical when anyone opposes them. Be afraid of terrorists? Be more afraid of the selfish, radical extremists in our own backyards.
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