StevieslawMarketplace: “I am not a threat” Tees Available after Background Check.
Karl Andren of the Harrisburg Patriot-News reports in the Centre Daily Times today that the so called “castle-doctrine”, the right to use deadly force if you feel your life is threatened in your home, will be expanded to include any public place. To loosely paraphrase Rep. Scott Perry (R-York), a sponsor of the bill, “Right now, citizens have to spend precious seconds determining if there is time to run away…” “That is not something we want our citizens to have to think about.” Scott might well have continued, “With our new law, our citizens know they can just shoot first and think later, as we’ve got their backs.” Robert Golck, spokesman for the NRA agrees. “Many studies have shown that thinking before shooting is not an efficient crime prevention technique.” “Moreover,” he continued, “At the NRA, we have always argued that the use of the word think in the same sentence as the word gun is a direct assault on the Second Amendment.”
We at Stevieslaw, however, believe this misguided law is bad for Pennsylvania business. As my cousin Marvin says, “If every time I go to the Mall I’ve got to worry that some crazy—who feels everyone in the world is threatening and who is armed with a semi-automatic weapon—is going to shoot me if I reach for a tissue in my pocket, I will shop on line. In response to this, Stevieslaw is proud to announce a line of t-shirts, hats and jackets boldly emblazoned with the logo—“I Am Not a Threat.” The clothing will be available, in a full line of sizes and colors, to people who pass the sort of stringent background check now required to buy weapons. Smokey Diamond, our intrepid reporter, still reeling from a newspicture of cat with an arrow in its head says, “Don’t leave home without a logo.”
In its continuing and largely successful effort to present the world as an insane, uncaring place, The CDT also reported in the same issue on the anniversary of the shootings at Virginia Tech and on the shooting death of 12 children in a public school in Rio.
Is it too early for a drink?
Comments
That's funny, but until there are shootings nothing can be done
That's some funny writing, and I have to admit, having a castle doctrine law come to Pa does feel a little odd.
But, until somebody gets shot in what is clearly an abuse of the law, I expect it's a done deal.
People are afraid. Most of their fear is diffuse and misdirected, but fear is driving all their behaviors, and nothing can be done about it. When the crowd goes mad with fear, it's impossible to stop, and no amout of reason can stop it.
Now, you can use that fear - for instance, by makng laws that make the misuse of the castle doctrine a strongly punished offense. Yes, I know, that's clumsy and crude and ugly - but, it's politically possible.
The republicans understand fear, and they are not afraid to exploit it. The problem is, we face decades of turmoil and trauma as the bad choices of teh last 30plus years come home to roost, and we have to pay the bills for decades of consumer addiction. So, democrats, and whatever third party will eventually coopt the corporate dems, had better start studying fear themselves.
Castle law expansion---not quite the Brady bill
Thank you for your kind words.
If history is a good predictor, the shoot first ask questions later bill will remain a done deal even after someone is shot.
There is plenty out there to fear. Republicans for one thing. I have been more or less constantly afraid since my parents left me at Coney Island one winter for two weeks so they could take my brother to Atlantic City. To this day, they claim the trip to Coney Island was my fifth birthday "present."
Perhaps a little humor can help. I think, for example, Jon Stewart's show may help a bit.
The problem with a country full of frightened (or undeducated) people is that they can be easily made to vote against their self-interest. That's obvious, of course, but so very frustrating for many of us.