I understand that Mayor Richard Daley is a liberal Illinois Democratic politician – which is semantically equivalent to ‘pig-ignorant about guns’ – so let’s go over some of the basics for him about firearm safety.  Let’s also discuss some core assumptions that Dick needs to embrace:

• GUNS ARE NOT TOYS.
• GUNS ARE NOT PROPS.
• IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHETHER OR NOT A GUN IS LOADED, IT IS.
• IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHETHER OR NOT A GUN IS READY TO FIRE, IT IS.
• NEVER POINT A GUN AT A LIVING CREATURE UNLESS IT IS A MATTER OF EITHER SELF-DEFENSE OR RESPONSIBLE HUNTING.
• NEVER POINT A GUN AT A REPORTER.

So [Mick Dumke] asked: since guns are readily available in Chicago even with a ban in place, do you really think it’s been effective?

[snip]

“Oh!” Daley said. “It’s been very effective!”

He grabbed a rifle, held it up, and looked right at me. He was chuckling but there was no smile.

“If I put this up your—ha!—your butt—ha ha!—you’ll find out how effective this is!”

Via the Top of the Ticket and @baseballcrank.  The room went on to have a good laugh, apparently; one wonders if they’d continue to laugh the next time a kid who hasn’t been taught gun safety imitates Mayor Daley’s behavior, only with a loaded pistol instead of a bayoneted rifle.  Actually, I doubt it: they’ll all probably blame everybody except themselves.

Moe Lane

PS: No, people cannot ‘lighten up’ on things like this.  Accidental shootings usually involve precisely this kind of casual disrespect for firearms, and this kind of casual disrespect is easily avoidable.  A small girl in Texas died Tuesday night because her sibling used a gun for a toy: do we really want our elected officials reinforcing that particular mindset?

Crossposted to Moe Lane.