Outgunned

By Bill Maher

Maybe it's time for everyone to acknowledge that America's real problem is not guns; it's not the 2nd Amendment; it's not even mental health or our inconsistent and occasionally lax gun regulations. No, there's only one thing that could lead to a (partial) solution: changing the idiotic, aggressive, in-your-face culture of gun nuts.

Obviously, the NRA deserves a lot of the blame. If every last person in public life were to give up and publicly proclaim that the NRA has won... the NRA would still do what they are doing. They are a self-perpetuating disease, not unlike a cancer, that does not require a "reason" to exist anymore. They exist only to grow. And the way that they grow is by fomenting anger and fear, and convincing their membership that talking about guns, bragging about guns, and openly carrying guns wherever it is legally permissible is good, because the country is full of "opposition."

There are other things in the Bill of Rights that are just as important to liberty and freedom. But there are no "free speech exhibits" at arenas and convention halls all across America. People don't celebrate the 4th Amendment by defiantly carrying closed duffel bags to a meet-up at Starbucks.

An unsafe atmosphere is a self-fulfilling prophecy. We are a country caught in an OCD loop: We are always talking about guns, so we are more likely to buy guns and carry guns, so there are more shootings, so we talk about and buy guns. Yeah, guns are a constitutional right, but according to the Supreme Court, so is abortion. Both are occasionally necessary, but both should be rare. And to celebrate either is a little bit sick