How Many Times Does this Have to Happen?

A story in the Denver Post about a woman who shot herself in the head with her own assault rifle epitomizes why the NRA's position on guns make us "safer" is so silly:

Adair and her husband, Dana "Shane" Adair, 40, were drinking beer in the garage with three other people — described as housemates — when Anastasia went into the home to get her recently purchased rifle to show it off, Toldness said.

Witnesses told investigators Anastasia Adair was coming downstairs back into the garage and was handing the rifle to Dana Adair when she slipped or stumbled. The rifle discharged and she was hit in the head. Dana Adair was close enough to his wife that he caught her as she fell.

Another incident in Colorado occurred just days before, when a school employee shot a kid in the parking lot of a school:

About an hour after school let out for the day, the student was getting a ride home from a school employee who also works a second job as an armed security officer, according to police. The employee was trying to put his gun into the glove box of the car when the weapon fired, hitting the student in the leg.

This happens several times a day. Your average kid is at much higher risk of getting shot by their dad, their friends, a security guard dropping trow in the john, or by a random drive-by in front of their house targeting someone else than they are of being shot by the likes of Adam Lanza. More guns in schools won't make kids safer -- every time someone touches a gun there's a small but non-zero chance they'll screw up and shoot themselves and or an innocent bystander.

The obvious conclusion is that way too many people who own guns are oblivious and incompetent dolts. This is exemplified by the ammunition shortage that has hit several police departments recently.

Apparently people are hoarding ammo because they've been listening to NRA propaganda. They're afraid that Obama's going to take away their ammunition TOMORROW!!!

This is utter nonsense. If they had a brain they'd know that the GOP controls the House of Representatives, and there's no way that any kind of legislation controlling ammunition could even reach the House floor until 2015, and that's only if wildly liberal Democrats staged victories in every state south of the Mason Dixon line in 2014. And that would happen only if known Al Qaeda terrorists committed half a dozen mass shootings across the country with guns and ammo bought at gun shows that flout the background check process.

The honest truth is Obama is not interested in forcing members of his party to take votes on even the most mild gun control reforms beyond beefed-up background checks, for fear of losing ground in the House in the 2014 midterms. So gun-lovers rejoice: as long as Obama is in office there is absolutely no chance whatsoever that any meaningful nationwide gun control legislation will pass. You've won!

Meanwhile, gun manufacturers are laughing all the way to the bank as the people being duped by NRA propaganda are crying all the way to the hospital. And the cemetery.