Skin In The Game

By Sniffles

You know how they say that support for marriage equality has exploded recently because people have come to realize that they know, and in some cases love, people who are gay?

That's the theory, and we cats think it's a good one: Once you have a personal reference point, a la Rob Portman, your eyes tend to be opened.

We were wondering if the same would be true of guns. Would personally knowing someone who's been murdered with a firearm make Americans realize the inherent folly of the Second Amendment? We sure hope not — because with more than 300 million guns floating around the United States, that's a lot of victims. But we kind of wondered after we saw the look on Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper's face today, as he paused before signing gun-control legislation — just a few hours after his prisons chief was shot and killed.

And then, of course, there's California Senator Dianne Feinstein. It was Dianne Feinstein who announced to the world that San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk had been murdered by a nut with a gun back in 1978. It's informed her position firearms ever since.

So, do we all have to know someone who's shot — or get shot ourselves — before we get sane on the Second Amendment? Or will it just take the Newtown Police Department releasing crime scene photos from Sandy Hook? We cats are almost on the verge of urging that they do. In the meantime, write your Congressional representatives here — and tell them that although you didn't personally know George Moscone, or Harvey Milk, or any of those Newtown kids and teachers, they need to honor those people and do the right thing.