Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and the Savior Gun: The Adolescent Nonsense That Passes For Leadership In Tennessee

Finally, someone has an answer!It's the Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee, and it's the Savior Gun."I have always believed that it is better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it."That's as far as the "thinking" goes for this man who currently holds high office in an American state. Having a firearm, at all times, in all circumstances, at the ready and fully loaded, is how Americans need to start living. All the time. Everywhere. Church. School. McDonalds. The supermarket. Back to School Night. That's the only answer: A perpetual state of itchy readiness for gun violence.Music this is, surely, to the NRA and it's sugar-daddy the gun manufacturing industry. But back to Ron and his admonition. It appears to go something like this:  All of you (you who are Christians anyway, and not anyone whose religion I might not trust):Your new savior is a firearm. Let's call it the Savior Gun. Having a Savior Gun and being a "good guy" is all that's needed in Ron's brave new world. Because after all:1. The aim of the shooter behind the Savior Gun will always be perfect and true, despite shock, stress, ricochet, the natural non-preparedness of simply living one's life outside of a perpetual combat zone, the shooter not being a professional or a marksman, the chance of slipping on a pickle chip, and an infinite number of other factors. In Ron's world, the "good guy" will always hit the "bad guy" and save the day, period. There's no reason to fear that a roomful of panicked shooters will hit each other, fleeing bystanders, or actual, professional first responders. There's also no need to worry about whether actual good guys, the professional responders themselves, will know not to shoot the now pistol wielding "good guy," as his intentions will always, somehow, be crystal clear and apparent during the melee.2. The Savior Gun will never accidentally discharge and kill or maim the "good guy," a classmate, bus rider, dinner companion, toddler, or anyone else.3. The Savior Gun will never be stolen and misused, or fall into the hands of a child.4. The Savior Gun will never be used in a suicide, a heated argument, or a misunderstanding, given the ease of which firearms make death something that can be dealt from a sanitized distance as an extension of one's fist.No, sir. Where the Savior Gun is concerned, all of these inevitable and oft-seen outcomes are either impossible or unworthy of consideration for Ron. Why? I guess he believes that, as a Savior Gun purchased by a Christian, it will itself surely anthropomorphize and adopt Ron's benevolent Christian principles.Adults, many of them police officers, understand better than Ron that guns are swords, not shields. Adults understand that the presence of firearms almost always means more death, not less.Adults understand that the inconvenient realities around the actual nature of firearms, particularly when coupled with human frailty, tend to complicate attractive but dangerous teenage boy fantasies.Adults understand that the reality of how firearms will likely be used in high-stress situations by non-professionals must temper the understandable but grossly unrealistic urge to view them as infallible protecters of innocence and virtue.Adults see the necessity of firearms for qualified individuals and understand the importance of allowing individuals to defend themselves and their families appropriately- sometimes even with firearms. But adults also appreciate the grave necessity to control the accessibility to guns, and also the public carrying of them.Adults know these things because they're, well, adults.I don't what Ron Ramsey is.