Plutocrap

They’ve gone plumb fucking loco down in Dixie.

In the heart of the “family values” country, they’re working on making it impossible for you to feel safe taking your family out for an evening.  Even as a single man, I’d think real hard before I went into a bar and did something stupid like play pool with someone-shit, what if I WIN? That could be a fatal error.

The more of this bullshit that I see, the more convinced I am that we’re going to have to part ways. From the Nazi state of Arizona to the shoot ‘em up southeast, white right wingers have simply lost their minds. Let them have their own space where they can kill each other with abandon, and drive their economy to a Haitian level. The rest of us can choose to continue to evolve in a civilized fashion.

Last month, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) signed legislation to allow “concealed carry permit holders to bring loaded guns” into establishments that serve alcohol. The law does not permit gun holders to consume alcohol, though the gun lobby is working to get that changed.

Virginia isn’t alone in its quest to arm its bar patrons. The Georgia state house has also passed a bill that would make it “legal to enter a bar or restaurant with a licensed concealed weapon and get drunk,” as long as the individual doesn’t fire the weapon.

Tennessee, too, is trying to follow in Virginia’s footsteps. Last year, the legislature overrode Gov. Phil Bredesen’s veto to pass a law providing gun owners the right to carry their weapons into any restaurant, except those whose predominant business was to serve alcohol. But the law was declared unconstitutionally vague by a state court, so Tennessee is trying again. This time, the law provides “no exclusions for where guns can be carried, as long as permit holders don’t consume alcohol.”

Rep. Joe McCord, a Republican state legislator with an A+ plus rating from the NRA, explained what is going on:

‘Essentially, NRA is saying to us, if you don’t support and vote for carrying guns in bars, we will not endorse you,’ McCord said. ‘This line of reasoning borders on lunacy.

‘What line will we not cross for the NRA? At what point do we say that’s too much?’ asked McCord, who is not seeking re-election. ‘I’m sorry for those of you who feel you have to hold your nose and vote for it … because of the NRA.’

Indeed, some legislators voted for it despite voicing concerns about the bill, presumably due to pressure from the NRA. In fact, an NRA lobbyist reportedly was invited to speak to a meeting of the House Republican Caucus just hours before the vote took place.

Gov. Bredesen is waiting to decide whether to veto the “guns in bars” bill. He has said the revised measure “hasn’t been made any better.” When he vetoed the bill last year, Bredesen cited a gun safety class he took in high school, sponsored by the National Rifle Association: “A basic tenet taught at that class was this: ‘Guns and alcohol don’t mix.’”

No, they surely do not, and throw a girl or a pool table into the mix, and you’ve got a gunfight waiting to happen. Think about your own experiences, and the fights you’ve seen break out in bars, and ask yourself: what if all the principals had been ARMED? Do you really think that a drunken asshole full of testosterone and alcohol would really hesitate, even for a second, to pull his gun?

And the worst part of this is, statistics tell us that in states where gun laws are lax, there are MORE crimes against persons, and a hell of a lot more gun accidents, than there are in locales where common sense is used for gun regulation. The stupid sons of bitches pushing these regulations have the data in front of them, so it isn’t like they don’t know what they’re going to cause.

They just don’t give a fuck. It’s just that simple.