The Bakersfield Californian

OUR NATIONAL GUN! WAIT. WHAT?

— Michael Cariker, Bakersfield

Just when l start thinking things can’t get any weirder, they do. In February of this year, Barry Moore, R-Ala., introduced a bill into Congress seeking to declare the AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle as — are you ready? — the “national gun.” I’m serious.

To make this even more unusual, if that is possible, this bill is being co-sponsored by Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., and that paragon of honest politics, George Santos, R-N.Y. People you just can’t make this stuff up!

The gun that is universally acclaimed as the preferred weapon of the all-American domestic terrorist should be our national gun? Forget the bald eagle, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and Mount Rushmore. Let’s hear it for the AR-15! I’m sure the folks in Uvalde, Texas; Parkland, Fla.; Newtown, Conn.; El Paso, Texas and all those other mass-shooting locations can hardly wait to jump on the AR-15 bandwagon.

Half of me would love to know what these Congressional Republicans are thinking and the other half is too terrified to find out. So, instead of tackling the budget, immigration, homelessness, health, education or any of that minor stuff, these “public servants” are so concerned with getting the weapon that has taken the lives of so many American men, women, children and infants the credit it so rightly deserves.

It is times like these that make me start to think that l have lived too long.

OPINION

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2023-05-31T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-05-31T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://bakersfield.pressreader.com/article/281852942951643

Alberta Newspaper Group