A Helpful Exercise as We Contemplate Gun Violence

This weekend, Wayne LaPierre and the NRA began the process of framing the gun violence debate to their political  advantage. This PR broadside was delivered after what Mr. LaPierre suggested was a respectful period of silence. Now, as a result of Friday's press conference and Sunday's interview with Dave Gregory we find ourselves engaged in a national conversation about the feasibility of putting armed guards in schools, creating a national list of the mentally ill, and looking more closely at the societal effects of media violence. What we are apparently not supposed to talk about (at least according to the NRA) is anything that might fall under the umbrella of gun control or legislation. (As I mentioned in another online conversation, it's interesting to see how many rights and amendments people are willing to throw under the bus simply to ensure the 2nd Amendment can be interpreted as broadly as possible).

While much of the NRA's stance is debatable, what struck me most were the consistent and repetitive errors of omission. Nowhere apparently (nowhere!) does the ease of access to firearms play a role in our current state of affairs. To hear the NRA tell it, the problem is simply one of bad guys, monsters, lunatics, predators, and the criminal class (as opposed to bad guys, monsters, lunatics, predators, and the criminal class with easy access to a nearly limitless supply of guns).

Here then is a modest exercise as you follow the gun violence debate and consider the position of the NRA. When Mr. Lapierre uses words like monsters, lunatics, predators, and the criminal class, append to his quote the phrase with easy access to a nearly limitless supply of guns. It's a condition of modern America that he consistently ignores, but one worth keeping in mind as we consider the issue of gun violence in the United States.

Here's some sample quotes to get you started:

• The truth is that our society is populated by an unknown number of genuine monsters...with easy access to a nearly limitless supply of guns...

• How many more copycats...with easy access to a nearly limitless supply of guns...are waiting in the wings for their moment of fame...

• There are monsters...with easy access to a nearly limitless supply of guns...out there every day, and we need to do something to stop them.

• We have a completely cracked mentally ill system that's got these monsters...with easy access to a nearly limitless supply of guns...walking the streets.

•  I talked to a police officer the other day. He said, "Wayne," he said, "let me tell you this. Every police officer walking the street knows a lunatic...with easy access to a nearly limitless supply of guns...that's out there...

• And does anybody really believe that the next Adam Lanza...with easy access to a nearly limitless supply of guns...isn't planning his attack on a school he's already identified at this very moment?