The joy of bearing arms

ITEM:  In California, gun advocates are up in arms, so to speak, over a bill approved recently by the State Assembly that would require the police to arrest and take into custody anyone caught with a gun in the secure area of an airport.
--New York Times (May 29, 2012)

Wow!  The article discusses the increasing number of guns seized by TSA from passengers attempting to pass through airport security.  The writer observes that "many of the offenders seem to be people who believe they have a right to carry a gun anywhere."

The article really speaks for itself, and I'm not sure what flummoxed comment I could make that would enhance my readers' understanding of these gun freaks.  I've already commented satirically in an earlier post on the NRA's success in forcing the National Park Service to permit gun-toting in national parks.  Truly, the American gun industry, through its unofficial NRA mouthpiece, has become one of the most formidable lobbying groups in the United States.  An organization that used to be known for teaching kids how to handle a hunting rifle now promotes unfettered sale and possession of handguns and assault weapons, and opposes requirements for concealed weapons permits.

Rather than merely promote hunting, the NRA now appears to promote the arming of the citizenry for all-out warfare.

I'm not aware whether the organization has, as yet, formulated a policy as to purchase and possession of hand grenades, tanks, anti-tank guns, rocket launchers, and small nuclear devices.

Ok, fine.  I don't want to be around these guys and their deadly toys, but obviously a lot of people do.  I say we set aside a large, isolated reservation -- entire states, as large as the as-yet undetermined demand will require -- for those who salivate at the idea of owning their very own handgun or AK-47.  In this reservation, there will be no law, as in "no law west of the Pecos."  These guys can form alliances and emnities as they please.  They can fight large-scale military engagements, or simply engage in street fighting.  They can blow each other's brains out in saloons.  Go for it, guys.  They can live a never-ending Hunger Games, except we won't be watching on TV.  The last surviver can let the rest of us know what finally happened.

Those of us living in the remaining portions of the United States -- hopefully, not just the two coasts, but who knows? -- will rely on police forces to maintain law and order.  We will limit our gun ownership -- for those members of the slowly dying breed of hunters --to those rifles and shotguns reasonably useful for for hunting deer and game fowl.  (I mean hunting them in a "sportsmanlike" way -- no machine guns or napalm flame throwers.)

Both groups will probably will be happier.  And the reservation, ultimately emptied of its gun-worshipping residents, can then be added to our nation's wilderness areas, once the final clouds of gun smoke have dissipated and all the necessary funerals have been held.