Dems Say the Darndest Things

  Justine Damond, unarmed, was fatally shot by a black Minneapolis police officer in 2017.

Talking about politics with someone from the other side is liking walking through a minefield. Actually, it's worse; it's like walking on a tightrope suspended over a minefield. And the tightrope is made out of poisonous snakes tied end-to-end. Yeah, that's about right.

Last night over dinner at a Mexican restaurant, I foolishly engaged in such a perilous activity with a friend whose views differ from mine. I regretted it instantly. The subject was gun control, and while we both are in complete agreement on what should be done -- actually, who isn't? -- nevertheless she managed to throw boiling water onto our commonality, burning me while simultaneously dousing the conversation.

I had pointed out that even if gun sales were strictly monitored, there are so many of them out there already (a 2018 Small Arms Survey estimates American civilians own 393 million guns both legally and otherwise, out of a worldwide total of 857 million firearms) that anyone intent on creating havoc could easily acquire one, or many. I cited Baltimore, our nation's newest murder capitol with 342 homicides last year, and Chicago, with 561 last year, 660 the year before and more than 770 in 2016. Her response stunned me: "Well that's because the Chicago police are out running around killing all the black people."

There is simply no arguing with this twisted non-logic. I just took another swig of my Rioja and kept on eating.