Ammendments 1 and 2 -- A Comparison

I had a quick conversation earlier this week about going to a shooting range. Someone (not me) suggested we go for fun and it was immediately shut down by someone else. They just plain bristled at the mere notion of guns.Afterward I asked what's wrong with going shooting?They looked at me as though I had just made the sky turn green. "New Hampshire" is just about all they said.Mind you that going to a shooting range in no way endorses or condones what happened in New Hampshire. It does no more than getting in a car after an accident somewhere else. My guns, which I properly store, haven't hurt anyone. Much like Ennie's car hasn't hit anyone. My car, in honesty, has hit the uninsured driver that illegally turned in front of me.My car hit the uninsured driver. It was illegal for her to be driving without insurance in the state of Ohio. Legality didn't stop her.

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Like I said, this was earlier in the week. It took me a while to really process it. Call me slow I guess.Today walking to the bus stop from work I was still thinking about it. It took a while to fully process things.

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Back around a dozen year ago something similar was in the news -- still is from time to time. A group of Muslims want to build a mosque somewhere and people get all up in arms. It happened in Cleveland."9/11"The project was never allowed to be completed.(Over the years this scenario played out in various ways in cities across America. If you need references, please ask)

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The same reaction to both. And I'm not trying to minimize either.

Just because you practice Islam does not mean that you are a terrorist. Or that you associate with terrorists. Or anything like that. But Islam is a convenient peg to hang the worlds troubles on. It's not you. "We're a Christian country." You can worship any god you want as long as it's the same as mine.

Someone with your religion did something bad. I don't like your religion, ergo, I will take yours away.

It is easy to try to lump the problems of the moment into a box and convince yourself that if you just get rid of that then you'll be all good.

Someone with guns did something bad. I don't like guns, ergo, I will take yours away.

Just chase them away and the evil they brought with them will go with them. It's Islam that is the root of all evil, right?

Newtown, likewise, was evil. In this case if you just ban the scapegoat -- guns -- then all evil will go away. It's guns that are the root of all evil, right?

It is easy to try to take rights away from anyone who isn't yourself. It is easy to jump on the bandwagon. It is easy to try to take rights away "for the better good." It's hard to gain rights. It's harder still to restore rights that had been taken away.