PUBLISHER’S NOTEBOOK: Gun control proponents not making sense

As I went to bed a week ago Sunday, my wife was watching coverage of the mass shooting in Las Vegas. Two dead and 24 injured flashed across the screen. I was tired and didn’t get too deep into the coverage. When I woke up, the numbers were gruesome: 58 dead, 529 wounded. Absolutely shocking. And almost immediately the social media comments turned into a pro-gun versus anti-gun debate. I thought, they’re still transporting bodies and notifying next of kin. We don’t have enough respect to allow a grieving period before we start those tired arguments?

As the week progressed, so did the dialogue. And then it became a game of who can make the better point about guns and gun laws. That Monday night Jimmy Kimmel made an emotional plea about gun control. “The Second Amendment, I guess, our forefathers wanted us to have AK-47s is the argument, I assume.”

But Kimmel seems to make an emotional plea about something every other week. I’m just wondering who told Kimmel he is the nation’s conscience. If someone tried to step in and ban his show because they didn’t like his politics he would surely invoke the First Amendment. I guess our forefathers had the foresight to give us the right to watch clips of his show on Facebook.

Then on Saturday, SNL Weekend Update host Colin Jost said: "This shouldn't be a partisan issue, the guy (shooter, Stephen Paddock) has 47 guns. No one should own 47 of anything, If you own 47 cats you are not a responsible pet owner, you’re a crazy cat lady. And unlike with guns, the government will actually come and take your cats away because everyone agrees that’s insane."

Should we be able to own 47 guns? I know a man who probably owns over 100 guns and most are still in the original box. Typically their value increases over time. We should place stock in SNL weighing in on whether a stamp collector is allowed to have 47 stamps or a coin collector is allowed to have 47 coins? Silly comparison? So is comparing owning 47 cats versus 47 guns.

Locally, blogger Shannyn Moore, one of the cadre to gain 15 minutes of fame when Sarah Palin rose to prominence, wrote a column in the Alaska Dispatch News earlier this week, blistering gun owners and gun rights. In it, she stated that If one is hoarding auto or semi auto weapons then ‘you need Viagra.’ She also cited one aspect of the Second Amendment concerning a ‘well-regulated militia,” stating that if you’re going to overthrow the government you’re going to need more than a few guns and monster clips. Oh, and she said the same founders who thought a ‘well-regulated militia’ was a good idea would have never expanded gun ownership to blacks because of the whole slavery situation. Oh, and she included, apropos of almost nothing, that her ‘uterus is more regulated than guns,’ quick to remind you, however, that she’s a gun owner and wouldn’t give up her guns, but she wants to tell you what guns you can have, how many you can own. Apparently the only appropriate use for them is to fill up your freezer.

No mention of self-defense or protecting one’s property or your loved ones.

Gun laws would not have prevented the tragic events in Las Vegas. The perpetrator was not a criminal prior to his unfathomable actions. Background checks would have done nothing to stop him.

Guns are woven into the fabric of our country. They are not going away. And to equate a citizen who wants to own a semi-automatic rifle with a 30-round clip with a man suffering from erectile dysfunction is immature. To disparage our Founding Fathers and the Constitution by back-handedly calling them racists, just to buttress your own beliefs about guns is myopic.

I wouldn’t stand in the way of, or judge, a woman who decides to have an abortion. I simply don’t have to agree with it. If my neighbor wants to buy 50 AR-15s and the ammo to go shooting every weekend with his or her buddies, I wouldn’t stand in their way, or judge them, either.

I would scratch my head and wonder why, but more power to them.

Guns are just part of the scene, especially in rural America. I wouldn’t expect a Jimmy Kimmel or a writer for “Saturday Night Live” to necessarily understand that.

But an Alaskan should.