Those who talk. Those who listen.

Every Person A Country: The Randian Logic Of The Right's New #1 Gun Talking Point

In politics, in academia, and in life in general, those who talk think it’s about besting anybody else who talks.

But that’s not necessarily the way of things for those who listen.

For those who talk it’s about who wins and who loses.

For those who listen it’s about who is talking sense, who is right.

The gun rights propagandists think they have found a telling point.

The office holders among the gun control advocates have bodyguards to a man, and sometimes personally carry.

Their being armed leaves them feeling they need and somehow lack a good riposte to the attacks of those who demand, counting on the listeners to be at least as stupid as these demands, “Why are you better than me? Why should your children be better protected than mine?”

Politicians may stumble, fearing the listeners really are that stupid.

But it would be a mistake to rely too heavily on the stupidity of those who listen.

Real or imagined.

In any event, no one is proposing the complete disarmament of all civilians.

The proposal on the table is a ban on assault rifles and on high capacity magazines to the general public.

We are by no means all equally in need of protection or self-protection with firearms.