Amid the very public grieving over the Newtown massacre of the innocents, and even as President Obama pledges to try to do something about the national gun culture, other American voices can still be heard. Here, for example, is a Texas GOP member of the House of Representatives who appears to believe that things would be much better if school principals kept a weapon or two of their own in the office, just as a precaution*. That same call was made just now on CNBC by a politician from Oregon. And from the same state, as well as others, there are reports that gun sales over the past weekend, in the immediate aftermath of the Connecticut atrocity, soared to unprecedented levels.
As far as anyone knows, there are 270 million weapons in private hands in the United States, not counting those hastily bought and stashed away in the last few days. President Obama can try all he wants to tighten the rules, but even if he were able to ban all future sales of weaponry to the general public, how much of that existing vast arsenal do you suppose would ever be turned in to the authorities, even in the current mood of national revulsion? A lot of Americans think they need guns simply because a lot of other Americans have guns.
The National Rifle Association has been pretty quiet since last Friday, but it won't be long before we hear some variant on the mantra that "guns don't kill people; people kill people". Actually, people with guns kill people, and nobody seems to have any bright ideas to stop that from happening.
*He also wants to be allowed to carry a piece of his own when he's on Capitol Hill.
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