Nearly a week has gone by since the terrible tragedy that took place in Aurora, Colorado. It is still hard to grasp the depth of the tragedy even as we try to make some sense of why these acts occur in the first place. The why, we will never know. We never do when lunatics act out. The how, well, that’s another story. We always know how.

A guy buys a gun. Then he buys 6000 rounds of ammunition, online no less, that’s how!

We live in a society that taxes everything we do. You rent a car, tax. Get a hotel room, tax. Buy a bottle of whiskey, tax. Fill your car up with unleaded regular, tax. Buy a pack of Luckys, big tax. Buy a Big Gulp Coke in New York City, FORBIDDEN!!!!

But you can buy all the armor piercing ammo you want and there is no special tax on that.

Look, I understand there are responsible gun owners just like there are responsible drivers. The difference being is that it is not as easy to get a driver’s license as it is to get an AK-47. To get a driver’s license, you must pass a written test, pass a road test to make sure you can actually handle the deadly weapon that you will be driving, have your picture taken, register your car, get car insurance, oh yeah, and pay for the privilege of driving. I don’t know if you have anything to do to buy a gun, except show up and buy one at a gun show. Maybe they have a three day waiting period but that is the most inconvenience that you will have to endure and, if you listen to the NRA, even that is too damn much.

Everyone points to the Second Amendment right to own and bear arms. Now, even if our founding fathers really did want citizens to be able to carry weapons to put down insurrections or to be able to revolt if the government got out of control, I don’t think we should be held hostage to a view that was clearly expressed for a society much different than our own.

Surely the framers of our Constitution would not advocate the right of seventeen year olds to carry a gun to a neighborhood basketball game or a graduate student to carry an automatic weapon to a midnight movie.

The old refrain, “If you criminalize gun ownership, then only criminals will own guns,” which is what Sarah Palin was hiding behind when she uttered, “Bad guys don’t follow laws,” just is not good enough reason to stand pat on gun control. Oh, by the way, a big thank you to John McCain for giving this one a platform, will she ever go away?

The fact that gun permit applications doubled in the state of Colorado immediately after the midnight massacre is extremely disturbing. Do people really think that if they carry a gun they will be safer? It seems to me that more guns will only make for more deaths. Do we really want to see people in the subway carrying heat? How about on the LIE? I just don’t think that would be a good idea.

It seems to me that there is a rational approach to gun regulation but I guess it requires people to be rational first.