Why Do You Need?

It's a favorite question that gun-control guys ask "Why do you need an AR-15?"

It's an odd question in light of the consumer economy that we all live it, and especially the up-scale reporters who ask that question.  Many of us own things that we demonstrably do not need, but which make life easier, or more pleasant .  No one would dream to ask why we need two SUVs and a pickup truck.  No one would dream to ask why I need a big shop.  And, I certainly won't look in my wife's closet and ask whey she needs all those shoes.

The question itself is arrogant and overbearing.  It appeals to a certain percentage of the population who seems to believe that they can dictate what you or I need.  It pretends to frame the question is a way that makes us seem unreasonable.

This weekend, reporters asked Lindsey Graham that question, and he replied with a reasonable, thought-out answer.

“Here’s a scenario that I think is real: There’s a hurricane, a natural disaster, no power, no cops, no anything,” the Republican lawmaker told reporters aboard Air Force One.

A reporter asked if he meant looters.

“Yeah, people, they’re not going to come to the AR-15 home,” Graham responded. “Well, I think if you show up on the porch with an AR-15, they’ll probably go down the street.”

It's a reasonable answer, I guess, but I much prefer to give them another.  I fix them with and icy state and simply say, calmly and coldly, "To shoot tyrants and their lackeys."

There generally is not a follow-up question.