A Facebook friend who lives in Cambridge posted a link to a story about Iowa considering changing its laws to allow children to shoot pistols under parental supervision (the change). This yielded a rich harvest of comments from Massachusetts Facebookers:
- Just reinforcing the following… IOWA – Idiots Out Wandering Around!!! And I thought “Floriduh” was the #1 state for stupidity!
- UnFUCKINGly deranged.
- Facebook missed out on the WTF emoticon for things like this
- Horrifying. I am getting so I just don’t want to know what shit this country can come up with next. We are ceaselessly horrifying. It’s depressing.
- Can t believe this is possible!
- Another side effect of Trumpification of America
- Unbelievable!
- They have truly gone insane.
- Omg! What the Hell is going on with this country!
I’m not a gun owner so I don’t have an informed opinion regarding the law. What was interesting to me is the psychology behind the discussion. It turns out that if the change were adopted in Iowa, the result would be the same as the prevailing law in Massachusetts and most other states, i.e., that children can shoot pistols when with their parents. All of these folks were so eager to feel superior to Iowans that they didn’t bother to check the status of the law in their own state.
When I was a kid we shot .22 rifles at summer camp. They’d have several mats on the floor with one rifle and five bullets on each. The kids would lay down, load one round when instructed, and shoot at the targets when instructed. It was fun and there were never any problems with it. Today though it would be a non-starter. No one would approve.
Now you have grasped how some Canadians feel about Americans, virtually all the time.
Those comments are all from anti-gun fanatics, and it’s one of the constants of the universe that anti-gun fanatics no absolutely nothing about guns or the laws surrounding them.
As a kid growing up in MA, I never went out shooting with my parents nor did I know anyone who did.
I *was* a camp counsellor on Cape Cod back in the 70’s, and we did have 9-12 year old kids that I taught to shoot 22’s. For what its worth, I kept the bullets in my pocket until everyone laid on their stomachs and stopped pointing the guns at each other. We never had an incident where one shot another, but I can easily see how that could happen under anything except the closest supervision. I had some moments with kids with impulse control issues, the sort of impulse control I see in about 25-30% of my son’s 5th grade class.
Perhaps the defining concern isn’t whether there is a law or not, but at what level people would exercise the law. And at what level of supervision and responsibility.
My dad’s high school had a rifle team
I went to graduate school in Iowa and moved to Boston recently and I constantly snobbish remarks on how much of an upgrade it must have been (in many ways it was a downgrade). I really enjoyed your Travels with Samantha and how you constantly stick it to your friends.
Cheers.
Since when did it become essential to know anything at all about a subject before venting about it on Facebook?
The United States Navy let me shoot a bolt action 22 in boot camp (under strict supervision), Great Lakes, Illinois. Only about 5 shots. Apparently that was enough to convince them I was not SEAL material. The instructor said, “Go sit down and don’t touch anything.” I’ve mostly followed that instruction ever since.
I have found that the people who make the most comments about gun laws in MA are the ones, who if you ask them if they know what the requirements and procedures are to legally obtain one in this state, have no idea whatsoever.
Did you post your observation above in the FB comment stream? What was their reaction? If not, you should!
This is a perfect example of the something-ification of America, but I still don’t know what to call it. I’ve seen the same sort of reactions on my Facebook feed about proposed gun law changes in the midwest. As a species, we’ve spent the last many centuries developing an increasingly deep and broad language, used to probe the mysteries of every subject under the sun. But, as a society, with the onslaught of so many thoughts and ideas, we’ve forced each side of a subject into a single statement, crafted to fit our preconceived notions. No matter how complex the subject or the reach of the policy, we can only tolerate a sentence or two to set it up, then put our two cents on it with a quip. Twitter is limiting, at 140 characters? Probably more than the average thought needs these today. What you’ve described is now what passes for erudite conversation today, just so long as you only do it with your carefully-selected group of friends who fully agree with you.
Don’t lie to yourself, Philip, least of all in print. Your “not being a gun owner” is already that like a slap in the face to gun-owning America, an insult just a wee-trigger away from begging to be avenged by that which distinguishes a man from a woolly.
[Speaking of which “So, America, This Is How Other Countries Do Gun Control in The Guardian today, HOW CONVENIENT!!!!]
As for what’s behind Massachusetts-ites feeling superior to Iowa-ns… doesn’t it sound like just another instance of the grass always being more brownish atop a neighbour’s septic tank?
That is hilarious! I wonder if this is generating any smug commentary from Iowans knowledgeable about Massachusetts law? “OMG, we are turning into Massadumbshits!”