Nerditorial: The First Gun Safety Debate of the 21st Century

The last time we had a national conversation about gun safety was in the mid 1990s.

Doesn't seem that long ago, actually. But consider this...

The gun lobby, and gun advocates, had the ability at that time to make a very well co-ordinated presentation to what we now refer to as the Mainstream Media.

Back then, it was more commonly referred to as The Media.

There were relatively few websites, even fewer bloggers, it was actually fashionable to have an AOL account, and... most internet users were using dial-up.

These were days before youTube.

The gun advocates could create a narrative about how law abiding gun owners would have their rights curtailed, and their safey actually compromised by an overreaching government.

The image of gun owners was reinforced as that of modern day counterparts to the colonial Minutemen who treated gun safety as a patriotic... bordering on sacred... duty.

That was then.

Now, the gun lobby has to deal with stuff like this video...

and this video...

These videos document dumb asses doing dumb ass things with guns.

This is a burgeoning category of videos called "Gun Fails"... showing ostensibly hilarious moments of people injuring themselves with firearms. Some of the moments... be advised... are not that funny... hilarious soundtrack notwithstanding...

These videos of dumb ass gun owners dove tail nicely with the dumb ass rhetoric coming from the Star Chamber of Dumb Asses that currently is in control of the NRA.

Daily Kos is currently publishing a segment called The Week in GunFail News [LINK] which documents a list of the series of firearm related mishaps that occur in America in a week. (Spoiler Alert: it's a long goddamn list.)

Back in the 1990's it was Moses holding up a rifle and, in a thunderous voice, shouting, "from my cold, dead HAAAAANDS..."

...and now, its Wayne La Pierre recommending armed security in schools and a montage of dumb asses handling firearms in a manner that poses a danger to themselves and others.

Welcome to the 21st Century, gun advocates. The water is just fine.