For the love of guns

I find little so tantalizing as the sulfuric gunpowder aroma that wafts up the barrel of a freshly-fired rifle. When coupled with downing a peephole-sized silhouette 400-plus meters downrange, it is positively electrifying.

Chest-bumping an M60 as it rapid-fires a spray of 7.62 mike-mikes over an impact area is as mesmerizing as flipping grenades into a foxhole or watching a Claymore's Front Toward Enemy pepper-spray a target to pieces.

Image of soldier live-firing Colt M4 carbine

Yup, I love guns, weaponry, actually, and not merely the firing of them. I lovingly clean them, practice disassembly and assembly of them blind-folded then use them to down targets in an impact area. Yeah, I'm kind of a gun freak in my way. Much of that was born during my time in the military, as I had only sort of fired a shotgun or two prior to signing up.

Having a passion for firearms, however, doesn't mean I believe every American should have access to a tricked out assault weapon with a muzzle velocity of 3,200 fps, a muzzle energy of 2,400 ft lbs. capable of firing 50 rounds a minute.

Dawn Nguyen being escorted to court

Want to feel that power on a regular basis? Join the military.

I don't think convicted felon William Spengler should have one and the "law-abiding citizen," Dawn Nguyen who allegedly put the guns in the hands of this criminal, should be charged in the deaths of the two firefighters gunned down and jailed accordingly.

Neither should Adam Lanza have had one. A mother incapable of denying her obviously troubled child access to violently brutal video games should have worked diligently to ensure her weapons, hailed by the NRA as "equalizers," stayed well out of his reach. Listening to the lunatic meme that "guns make women safer,” may well have set her up to become Newtown Massacre Victim #1.

Before Congress and the Nation, Independent Women's Forum spokesloon Gayle Trotter told this egregious lie: "In a violent confrontation, guns reverse the balance of power.” The Conservative sockpuppet of the gun manufacturing industry claimed guns eliminate the advantage violent criminals might have in size and strength. “Using a firearm with a magazine holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition, a woman would have a fighting chance even against multiple attackers.”

Lying in bed, clad only in pajamas, Nancy Lanza had no opportunity to "equalize" the moment her son turned her own Bushmaster .223 and remaining unsecured arsenal against her. In fact, had the Connecticut barfly spent less time listening to the nonsense of Wayne LaPierre and his fringe absolutists and spent more listening to gun safety public service announcements, Adam's murderous lust would have remained just that and the sleepy city of Newtown, Conn., would be more renown for its Caleb Baldwin Tavern than the slaughter of 26 innocents.