Common sense now a casualty

The image is difficult to erase.
The scene was one of the many festivals that dot the calendar in Indiana and Ohio each summer. The street was crowded with kids and families.
One man stood out. He was wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the message: “Cops suck.” On his hip, he wore a holster. In the holster, was a pistol.
This was not the Wild West in the 1880s. This was the Midwest in the 21st century.
Was the guy within his legal rights?
In Indiana, he was, thanks to some mischief by our lawmakers.
Was he trying to provoke?
Of course he was.
He was making a political statement, both with his shirt and the gun on his hip. He was exercising his freedom by figuratively swinging his fist just as close to his neighbor’s face as possible.
Two thoughts immediately came to mind: The guy is an idiot. And it has become impossible to have a sensible conversation about firearms in this country.
Having legalized this sort of nonsense, the Indiana General Assembly’s going to be hard-pressed to put the genii back in the bottle.
When a similar bit of gun-toting led to an incident at a children’s zoo in Evansville this summer, the Second Amendment lobby was quick to portray zoo officials as the offenders.
After all, they said, the guy with the gun was within his legal rights; the folks at the children’s zoo were the problem for over-reacting.
That’s like First Amendment proponents championing the right to yell “Fire!” in a crowded theater.
Common sense says you don’t yell “Fire!” in a crowded theater.
Common sense says that private citizens shouldn’t pack heat when they go to church or the county fair or a kids’ baseball game.
But it looks as if common sense long ago became a casualty in this debate. — J.R.[[In-content Ad]]