Law enforcement officials have declared the San Bernardino shootings a "terrorist attack." Fair enough. I can't disagree. But Republican candidates are racing to declare that this designation somehow obviates the need for better gun control laws. What is needed, they claim, is not stricter laws but a "recognition" that we are at war. Liberals, they say, won't acknowledge that the Islamic State has declared war on the United States and, indeed, Western Civilization.
OK, Republicans: I acknowledge this. I acknowledge this mostly because I read the newspapers and am an informed citizen and live in the real world, and I have heard all about how the leaders of the Islamic State have called on their followers to attack and kill "infidels" wherever they may be found.
But because I live in the real world, etc., etc.--and because I acknowledge that there are psychopaths--including here in the United States and including far too many (Robert Dear, Dylann Roof) inspired by things other than "Islamic" beliefs--who subscribe to apocalyptic worldviews mandating death for "undesirables"--because of all this I would like to see some attempt to make it slightly more difficult for these enemy terrorists to legally acquire weapons--as all of those listed above did!
So the GOP would have us do everything in our power to combat terrorists--everything, that is, except actually disarm them.
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