"It's always too soon to talk about gun control"

[Labster]

And look at Ireland now, a lawless region where corporations pay no taxes and collect all of your personal data.  Truly, a dystopia.

OK, those things might not be related to guns.

• For a person to obtain a gun, he should attend an all-day class and pass a written test regarding proper operation, maintenance, and safety. This class and test are to be held once a month under qualified firearms instructors. Classes and exams must be re-taken every three years.

This actually exists in some places.  Those classes, naturally, are taught by the NRA, and part of its charitable education mission.  They make a great place to spread pro-gun propaganda.

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Gerrymandering is a problem that is not orthogonal to gun violence, but only because one of the parties allowed itself to be captured by the gun lobby, and that party happened to be the party that was ascendant in the year the lines got redrawn.  It's kind of like blaming Chthulu on the stars deciding to align.  Obviously these realignments are a problem, but not the core cause of the violence.

I talked to a friend of mine last night about guns.  She took us out to a comedy club, because she wanted to get her mind off the fact that her friend (and the friend's husband) had been shot to death in Las Vegas.  Five more of her friends were injured at the concert.  Of course, she's not giving up her handgun sitting in the nightstand at home, because what if someone comes to rape her?  (Also, the assertion that her "girly gun ... couldn't really kill someone" seems like something I should call the Mythbusters about.)  So what the hell do you do with attitudes like this?  I tried suggesting pepper spray, but that didn't work.  Americans would rather be peppered with bullets.

EDIT: Oh, I forgot to mention, I had this conversation with her at a bar, where it just so happened that the bartender's sister was grazed by a bullet in Vegas.

And finally, I'm just going to close by reminding everyone that two-thirds of gun deaths in the U.S. are suicides.  The degree to which the gun is the problem in this case is hard to say -- it might be anything from economic stress to availability of euthanasia to "OMG I had a bad day, and I have a gun, put 2 + 2 together."