Shooting from the Hip

Today’s Oregonian reported that in the wake of the violent shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, Vice President Joe Biden’s task force was preparing recommendations that would “lessen the possibility that this kind of thing could happen again.”  But, he said, “We know there is no silver bullet” to solve the problem.  Biden said he hoped to send his recommendations to Obama next week.  “I’m shooting for Tuesday.  I hope I get it done by then,” he said.
 

 I might add that while the Obama administration may be under the gun to take action to curb the violence, they are not the only ones sweating bullets.  The NRA president may have shot himself in the foot by suggesting armed guards in schools, a measure that pundits quickly shot down. 

Video game professionals, leaders of an economic sector that has been going great guns in recent years, worried that the task force was gunning for them, and hope to dodge a bullet by pointing out that actual guns kill people, not video games. 

Second Amendment defenders feel that politicians shooting their mouths off will not change the reality that prescription drug side effects and mental illness contribute to widely reported but relatively rare murderous massacres.  They are sticking to their guns, and daring anyone to violate the U.S. Constitution by infringing on their right to keep and bear arms. 

Sooner or later we may all have to bite the bullet and realize there is no obvious smoking gun here… the situation is complex, and every contributing factor inextricably tied to a constitutionally protected liberty:  freedom of speech, freedom to bear arms, or civil liberties.  This is no time to shoot first and ask questions later.

P.S.  Don't blame me.  Biden started it.