Guns, and why the ideological screaming never stops

Where to place blame is a factor. It’s instructive that after Parkland liberal fire is aimed principally at the National Rifle Association (NRA) and not the FBI. This is though the FBI admits it didn't follow its own protocols, including not reacting to a tip that the reportedly-confessed killer wanted to be a “professional school shooter.”

Some ask what the FBI could have done even if it had acted. A person can’t be arrested for what they might do. However, that’s irrelevant. Whatever difference the FBI could have made was lost in the bureaucracy.

The FBI escapes wholesale condemnation because Donald Trump is at odds with the bureau. Also, he has criticized the FBI for its Parkland shooter mistakes. Trump haters in politics and the media would rather self-perform a root canal without anesthetic than seem to be siding with Trump on anything.

Local law enforcement was called to the shooter’s home at least 39 times. The shooter was expelled from school for disciplinary reasons. He was known for committing violent acts. The armed school resource officer stayed outside the building. Three sheriff’s deputies reportedly didn’t enter the school to see if they could save lives.

Trying to pin down the breakdown’s source is hard. Blaming the NRA is easy. And in that regard there’s a take-no-prisoners attitude and a not-on-your-life reaction.

In the continuing gun debate some gun rights proponents are identical in their response to abortion rights advocates who take to the barricades to oppose abortion restrictions. Each group fears that agreeing to any new limits will lead to more controls.

But this symmetry seems to escape many on the left, whose approach is that the right to bear arms written into the Constitution is subject to whatever changes they wish to make to it, but the right to an abortion - not specifically referenced in the Constitution- must absolutely, positively, be left alone completely, without question, period.

One-side-fits-all. We want what we want and what you want doesn’t matter. Such thinking extends to more issues than gun rights and abortion. Under these circumstances discussing any subject is a vertical climb. This is particularly true when there’s a “dragon” to slay, in this case, the NRA.