Today as I was walking into the library to return an interlibrary loan book about baseball, I noticed a sign on the door: "No firearms allowed in this building." It struck me then that any society that has to put such a notice up on a library is obviously insane. I should say it just reminded me where I am. Here in Okieland anyone actually concerned about the common weal--for example, who considers widespread ownership of handguns to be against the greater society's best interest--would be not only be adjudged insane, but also dangerous . . . and how insane is that? Which of course means I'm insane for wondering in the first place, much less harboring in my treasonous little heart the belief that banning handguns altogether would be a good thing. Shhh, if that got out, it could get me lynched.
I actually surprised myself by scoring 7 out of 10 in a little quiz on Oklahoma gun laws; what I did was answer "no" to everything that sounded reasonable and civilized, such as, is there a waiting period on gun sales? But I got tripped up on some surprise "yes" replies.
The gun laws in this state are easy to master: nothing is required to own or buy a handgun other than cash and the proper age. The state of Jokelahoma does balk at ownership and sale of guns to kids under 18, but after that, dude, help yourself to all the heat you can afford. Lovely.
Oh, by the way, one of the books I checked out today was Nonviolence by Mark Kurlansky. It's a "dangerous" idea, he says. I had not intended such a thing. (Actually, I thought another baseball book might be appropriate, being that the 2008 season of America's "national pasttime" has already started--in Tokyo. But that's another whole subject.) Something subversively subliminal must have been working on me.
1 comment:
I got a 9 out of 10. I win! =)
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