Make my day

It has been a few years since I dressed up like a cowboy and strapped on my six shooter. Those were the days when it was easy to tell who the good guys were – The Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers, Wild Bill Hitchcock, and Wyatt Earp. Things were much simpler back then. All you had to do was convince your mom that every other kid in the neighborhood already had a cowboy outfit and you really, really, really had to have one too.

Actually, it’s probably easier to get your cowboy (or girl) outfit today. You sign a form saying you have no mental health problems, other than the need to carry a gun, take 10 hours of classroom training and spend 2 hours with an instructor on the shooting range. You can do the whole thing over a weekend, and, presto, you’re legally ready to dress like a cowboy while visiting your local coffee shop.

We owe this freedom to the second amendment - the one about the Right to Bear Arms. It goes like this, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” I don’t get what’s “well regulated” about a random collection of folks walking around with weapons, but that doesn’t seem to be an issue.

Last weekend the National Rifle Association held their annual convention and out of that comes a new political action group called “Trigger the Vote.” Maybe I need to start looking for a new cowboy outfit.

A. Reader