General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Latest right-wing meme- "No assault rifle used at Sandy Hook" [View all]The Magistrate
(95,237 posts)Is that these things have only emotional value to their enthusiasts, not practical value. Policy should not be made in accordance with people's fantasy lives; if it is, it will never match actual conditions and needs.
We both know there is nothing these tricked out long guns do in practical use, that could not be done equally well by a bolt or lever action rifle with a tube feed, or a five or six round clip. No need of hunting, or particular pleasure in target shooting, or, for that matter, of potential home defense use, would not be met adequately by such weapons.
What these tricked out pieces are sold for is to serve as props in a fantasy life, to give the purchaser something solid to which dreams of being an action hero, being a warrior, ever-victorious, better than any of the rest, can be attached to.
What really needs to be overthrown is this culture of fantasy omnipotence. It really ought to be a matter for laughter, for public scorn, an occasion for pattings on the head and rollings of the eyes, when a man says he 'needs' a gun that looks like an army equipment, insists he has to have, will never surrender it, has a right to it that cannot be restricted, that he will defend us all against tyranny with it. Because it is a plain evidence of a mental imbalance, of a privileging of fantasy over reality, of a deliberate choice to dwell in delusion rather than face up to the facts of the world.