Going Ballistic | Tragic Comedy

Scott Hardie | January 26, 2014
I am amused at the furor and mockery over California state senator Kevin de Leon's botched anti-gun news conference, in which he confuses the words clip, magazine, and caliber, and doesn't seem to know that the gun he opposes is already illegal. It's well and good to mock this Democrat for seeking to ban something without understanding it, and I believe that as a fairly anti-gun Democrat myself. But I have to say, what amuses me most is that people are focusing on de Leon's terminology and completely missing the fact that his central goal is ridiculous: He wants to require background checks for people who manufacture their own weapons at home. Think about that, and tell me that's not hilarious. Even if it were possible to enforce the ban on weapon manufacturing via 3D printers that some lawmakers are proposing (it's not), such submission to background checks would be voluntary at best and almost certainly skipped by anyone who has an interest in making their own guns in private. Good luck with that bill, senator.

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