By: Keith Kappes
Columnist
Carter County Times
Have you noticed that the super majority Kentucky Republican state legislators have firmly established themselves as the smartest educators, most moral, righteously Christian, and patriotic defenders of our right to bear arms, even at church?
A bill to allow concealed weapons to be carried by private citizens on public higher education campuses without any training in the safe use of firearms came out of hiding after being camouflaged as another bill. It was sent to the House floor on a committee vote and is expected to pass.
Never mind that all of the public universities and community colleges are solidly opposed to the bill and fear it will make their campuses more dangerous. They obviously don’t believe that old NRA claptrap that the answer to a bad person with a gun is a good person with a different, perhaps more powerful gun.
At the rate gun control laws are being weakened or eliminated here and in other states, we soon could be wearing firearms strapped to us like the cowboys of the Wild West.
When that happens, I’m going for an assault rifle with a 50-round magazine. Someone will have to help me carry it, but I won’t be lacking firepower. And a weaponized toy drone with tiny rockets would be a nice touch, as well.
This homage to the Second Amendment comes as no surprise when you look at how much money the NRA and the gun and ammo manufacturers spend each year on lobbying Congress and the state legislatures.
Americans already own more firearms per capita than the rest of the civilized world but surely there is no connection to the fact that we also have more mass shootings than any other country.
Each week we learn of gun violence here and elsewhere that demonstrates that easy access to weapons designed to kill other human beings is adding to the global chaos that threatens all of us in this once-relatively peaceful land.
The Army taught me how to “lock and load” about 60 years ago, but I never expected to need that skill in my 80th year.
(Contact Keith at keithkappes@gmail.com).