I think it’s a signal to Republican senators and the gun industry at large to not get in the way as they have in the past.

Do I think it’s dangerous or risky? No more or less than it is to not take a side. He’ll be roasted by his own side if he doesn’t take a stand with them, especially after Atlanta and Colorado.

It really is a travesty and a damn shame things have to go down this road this far to get sensible legislation even discussed. But that’s where we are.

I guess more importantly is, do I think it’s all smoke and mirrors with no will to follow through if called on it? No. I don’t think it’s an empty bluff either. I think enough people are sick and tired of fearing for their children’s safety and watching the now steady stream of death on the TV that they’re willing to overturn the 2nd amendment entirely. I think it may be another generation before another chance for reasonable legislation comes by if the moment passes by now.

I think this is a nexus point in how things will go. I think we don’t want this moment to go the wrong way. I think the fallout of that is likely to be more severe than most blowhards about civil liberties can rightly reckon with.

Again, I’m a sentinel for a free and open society, with my dying breath. But you can’t be reckless about the power of such things and expect to keep them. We don’t live in a fantasy world where ideology exists carte blanche; we live in the real world where there are limits and exceptions because there has to be.