the rix mix

I see no rationale for owning an AR 15 rifle,* unless it serves as pornography & arouses the owner sexually. Gun rights defenders say no rationale is needed, the right to own exists, end of argument. Accused mass murderer Holmes provides a tragically compelling reason for reinstating a ban on the AR 15, but beyond that, & maybe that he allegedly bought 6000 rounds of ammo through Amazon, he's not a good argument for gun control. Holmes could have armed himself with legit hunting weapons & shot people all night long. He was going people-hunting & he would find a way to do it even it if required constructing homemade hand grenades. There's little defense against an insane individual we don't know is insane.

Gun culture is scary. You could easily find videos on You Tube of American children wearing camouflage fatigues  &  firing sophisticated weapons, including machine guns, urged on by their parents. Nicholas Krisfof wrote today:

If it's politically impossible to curb even assault rifles, then maybe at least we can adopt a public health approach to guns, to minimize the harm. That could include limiting gun purchases to 1/month, making serial numbers harder to erase, banning oversize magazines, more thorough safety checks, a mechanism to show whether bullet is in chamber, etc. This public safety approach has been very successful in reducing both auto fatalities and drunken driving deaths. Isn't it worth trying with guns as well?

This would seem logical. It would do something - not enough - to curb traffic in illegal guns into cities, the  most serious gun control problem in America. It isn't the crazy mass murderers nobody can predict but the criminals, gang bangers, drug dealers, violent repeat offenders the police do know. The bad guys outgun the cops. We need ways of tracking guns from the sale point, which include open air gun markets in the South & unethical, greedy gun dealers.  Advocate these common sense steps  &  the gun rights people scream.  Remember, they chafe under existing motor vehicle laws; can't drive their dirt bikes &  lawn tractors on  public highways. There's a pro-gun mindset that believes any weapon should be legal. Many you might think aren't legal,  are, in some states, although they may require special, difficult federal licensing.

Doesn't seem to  bother pro-gun folks that government records cell phone conversations, tracks personal internet use & searches blogs & chat rooms for key words that might indicate anti-American feelings;  the massive increase in video camera survelliance, government & private, not to mention what hundreds of satellites above us  see & hear.   Regarding those aspects of Homeland Security they say, "Nothing to worry about if you're a patriotic American."

As I've written before, the National Security State doesn't care about their stinkin' guns. No threat.  Go ahead, believe all that "well-armed militia" bullshit, like you're the Minutemen & you're gonna defend your liberty shooting at the enemy from behind trees & rocks, we don't care. We want you, we got you. You gave us the power.    Only  local  law enforcement, local government, good people under siege in their own neighborhoods care.

* Holmes had a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 .223 semi-automatic rifle, described as a "tactical" firearm.