Chekhov

So often short weeks feel far worse than a normal full week. An oft noted phenomenon, and not all to do with the hours simply bunching up at the end, like a weak sock in a large boot.

Perhaps it's a matter of pacing, and expectations. Whatever the reason, my Monday call off had no effect on my Friday evening collapse. Slept badly, head aching, woke with a nasty little migraine. Threw everything at it, and it never got worse... nor better, until about a half hour ago. I think I have it on the run now.

Work opinions on gun regulations running a bit emotional from a few owners. Not to be reasoned with. My anti-gun stance is both pragmatic - and personal. The ex had a gun. He fired it into the floor once, and I figured the next time, he would put a bullet in me. I was so beaten down, I did not take this anywhere near as seriously as would be reasonable. In my own self-destruct mode, no doubt any way out was a way out. Yeah, it was that bad.

My mother put her foot down about any kind of gun in the house. When my oldest brother had one, he had to keep it completely dismantled. He would then have to completely assemble it - to shoot into the furnace a few times. I can well imagine my father getting whisky from Mrs. Rizzardi next door, come home belligerent, and if a gun was ready, shoot all of us before passing out. Didn't clearly envision this at the time, but now - seems well within the realm of possibility.

I do think the NRA needs to be prosecuted under RICO as a criminal organization. Sic the CDC on the issue of gun violence as a public health crisis. They want to, but have been shut out by lobbyists with a shit ton of gun money. All gun owners need to be at least as stringently licensed as drivers. Ammunition needs to be tracked. A real ban on assault rifles and anything high powered needs to be enforced. A good PR company needs to be hired to promote Patriotism as removing guns from homes. Think of the children! Real men shun guns!

Of course, I prefer to see the amendment repealed, or at least precisely enforced - bearing arms a protected right only in the context of a "well regulated militia."

It can improve, as we got drunk driving, child beating, wife beating, pervasive public smoking, pushed to the edges and no longer defensible as normal behavior. Still happens, of course it does, but not as Perfectly Good Things. No longer glorified as Freedoms, but as stupid and destructive and tacky.

Keep thinking about Chekhov's gun. Gun owners see themselves using their weapon to save their families from harm, being the hero. What they miss is that life so often imitates art, and the one being shot is not the bad guy out there. Even just that if the gun is around, eventually it will be used, and the wish granted will not be granted as expected. As so often happens with wishes.


Fear drives all of this, of course. Nothing new.