Put Your Guns in the Air, and Shoot Them Like You Just Don't Care

(Disclaimer: I assume NO responsibility for any injuries or deaths that result because somebody actually took my advice.)

I walked into the kitchen last night to make a package of chicken ramen noodles for dinner (yum).

After my water started boiling and I started opening the package, Bigmama turned to me and said, "You know, guns are legal now!" (Actually, it sounded like she said illegal, to which I thought well that's silly, guns are already almost illegal.) But when she clarified what she had said, I had to abandon my noodle making for a moment.
"Really?"
"Yeah. They ain't got no business making guns legal. People are really going to just go around killing each other now."
"Well, Bigmama, they're probably thinking along terms of the Prohibition and what happened when they banned alcohol."
"When was this?"
"During the Great Depression. People started drinking more when alcohol was illegal."
"Yeah, but alcohol can't kill you. People are going to walk around with guns and just shoot people whenever they want."

I left the conversation alone there, because once Bigmama has taken a stand there's no talking her out of it or even presenting another point of view. And that's fine...she's lived long enough to not have to care what anybody else says.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Before everyone hits the streets to drink and shoot celebratory shots into the air at 3 in the morning (hey...they do it on the 4th of July), it is important to understand that the Supreme Court did not lift a ban on handguns completely. They instead declared that the Second Amendment does, in fact, guarantee the right for individuals to bear arms for self-defense.

(And by bear arms, the Supreme Court doesn't mean the right to wear short sleeved shirts).

It is said that this decision will have minimal effects, at least for now, because while having a handgun is now legal (in Washington), it is still difficult to obtain a gun ANYWAY.

My thoughts? I'm not exactly "anti-gun" myself. I don't know how I feel about people carrying guns around, but I'm sure that just because it's legal doesn't mean people will carry them all the time. And I don't think that everyone will go around shooting people just because they have a gun with them (unless their trigger finger is like my debit card use). But I would argue that the second amendment does provide for the possession of guns for self-defense.

But it won't make much of a difference, so don't buy the NRA-themed ice cream cakes just yet.