Sweet Emotion

Have you ever done something when you were angry or upset that you ended up regretting later? If you’re a normal human being, I imagine that you have…I know I have. In fact, I can’t think of a time when I acted out of emotion that turned out well. This is why…when we are all reeling from another mass shooting…the anti gun lobby turns up the heat.

Image: CBS News

Surely you’ve noticed the pattern: the gun control crowd is relatively quiet, and then there’s a violent incident. Suddenly they’re everywhere. You can’t look at mass or social media without some anti gunner yammering on about how we need more laws to stop people from breaking the laws we already have.

He knows you won’t go along unless you’re upset.

I think about the Pixar movie “Inside Out,” which tells a tale of a young girl named Riley and how her emotions run her. The thing is, Riley is a child, and no one is shocked at the idea that children are impulsive and often act based on how they feel, and not based on logic and reason. Adults, on the other hand, are at least supposed to provide guardrails against impetuous action. Ostensibly, adults know that rash decisions based on emotion are mostly unwise, and evaluate their choices rationally.

Do they run you?

This is why the anti gun lobby steps hard on the gas after an act of extreme violence. It’s a sweet opportunity for them to catch otherwise rational adults in a moment when emotions are high, and they have a much better chance of getting people to go along with something they would not agree to if they weren’t upset.

“Full speed ahead for gun control! Hurry, before they calm down!”

They know that when you are calm, you understand that extreme acts of violence like today’s are relatively rare. They know that when you are calm, you understand that privately owned firearms are much, much more likely to save an innocent life than to take one. And they know that when you are calm, you understand that an armed citizenry is the final firewall against tyranny.

So now is their prime time. They need to act quickly to take advantage of an emotional public, because a calm and rational America will never go along with their plans to disarm the people who haven’t done anything.