Start with the silencer bill itself. What were the pros and cons of that particular bit of the National Rifle Association’s unceasing legislative steamroller? Pros: ear protection, instead of, you know, regular ear protectors. Cons? Gosh, it’s hard to imagine any way that being less able to hear gunfire might somehow place potential victims in greater danger.

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But let’s look at some of the other tropes the more-guns people use. If everyone is packing, then perpetrators will be stopped. Yes, a swell argument against the Las Vegas massacre. If all the concert-goers had been carrying guns, they could have pulled them out and started shooting at anyone who looked like a danger. What could go wrong?

How about the argument that “guns aren’t the problem; it’s the shooter”? Increase the penalties for using guns to kill people. Another applicable idea. Strap the dead gunner in the electric chair and kill him again. Then stand his corpse up and let him face a firing squad. Then hang the corpse until his head pops off. That will stop him.

Fighting tyranny? Yes, the Las Vegas gunman was a very well-organized militia of one. He planned his patriotic act meticulously so that he could kill the most concert-going tyrants possible before they could find cover.

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And the net result of all these standard arguments? Dead Americans, and more dead Americans. Family members, loved ones, mowed down because an out-of-control ideology will not consider the consequences, ever, of its dogmatic blindness on the actual lives of actual Americans.