* Vice President Joe Biden, bless his heart, has been on the case trying to forge some kind of meaningful gun-control consensus from a disparate array of interests. In this gun-and-violence-enamored culture, that was a Sisyphean task. That he would fall short of what America really needs and deserves is no surprise. But you can bet he employed every personality feint and across-the-Senate-aisle gambit in his considerable repertoire. Even, obviously, a few vintage, malaprop metaphors. Last weekend he conceded that there was “no silver bullet” on the gun issue before adding that he was “shooting for Tuesday” to get his gun-policy recommendations to the president.
* One certifiable result of the Newtown massacre and resultant debate over gun violence: According to the National Rifle Association, another 100,000 members joined up last month. Invariably the NRA’s numbers gin up in the context of any serious talk about gun-control legislation. Membership now stands at about 4.1 million.
* Here’s a quote, steeped in smug, self-righteous self-satisfaction, offered up by NRA president David Keene over the weekend on CNN’s State of the Union: “I would say that the likelihood is that they are not going to be able to get an assault weapons ban through this Congress.” He then emotionally high-fived himself.
Some subjects, notably ones with common-sense, life-and-death ramifications–ASSAULT WEAPONS!–just transcend civil, reasoned dissent. What the hell is the matter with these friggin’ ass-hats?
* Here’s something else I just can’t shake. When I see the PSA that features the mother of the 6-year-old who was killed by James Holmes last summer in that Aurora, Colo., movie theater, I don’t just think crazed assault-gun murderer and innocent lives lost. I also still think, why was a 6-year-old girl at a midnight showing of the violently hip The Dark Knight Rises? Indeed, gratuitous violence in America is a multi-layered, societal contagion.