For Now

 When I read the headline, "Federal judge rules Oregon’s tough new gun law is constitutional," I had to go ahead and read the full article. Since so much that goes on in our nation's courts currently leaves me feeling a little cold and alone, The number of states that are passing new gun laws that assure the trend of too many guns and too many innocent victims lately has been very unsettling. 

But, as it turns out, the clue was right there in the headline: Oregon. A liberal bastion and a place where good ideas find a home, the folks up there voted to require residents to undergo safety training and a background check to obtain a permit to buy a gun. and bans magazines that hold more than ten rounds of ammunition. A federal judge said that this is constitutional. U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut said this measure, number 114, fits neatly into “the nation’s history and tradition of regulating uniquely dangerous features of weapons and firearms to protect public safety."

As an aside, my high school German couldn't help but notice that the judge's last name translates to "always good." 

Of course, after reading the full article, my mind was full of questions, the foremost was, "how long before some wingnut feels compelled to take it to a higher court?" The matter of guns and the safety that rightly should surround them is far from settled business in Estados Unidos. (I didn't take Spanish in high school). The sound you hear is the squeak of a bunch of NRA lobbyists getting their LaDeririers off their cushy office chairs to prepare to fight common sense. The common sense to which Judge Always Good referred to in her decision. 

You need a license to catch a fish. You need a license to drive a car or go out into the woods with those guns to kill animals. If you fail your driver's test, they don't approve you to get behind the wheel. I know this because when I was in high school, studying German and not Spanish, I failed my driver's license. As a matter of fact, I have some personal experience with having my privilege to drive being revoked. Imagine that. If you have a demonstrably shoddy record driving a motor vehicle, the state will take that license away. It should be noted here and now that even though this new law in Oregon is "one of the toughest in the nation," But it doesn't ask anyone to give up anything they already have. The "things" they won't be giving up are guns. Guns that just happen to be the leading killer of children in the United States. More than fishing accidents. 

And now we wait for that squeaking sound to get louder and louder, as it always seems to do in these situations. Always Good. 

For now.