“Get the Stupid Out”

I came up with that little zinger one morning a couple months ago and I’ve been meaning to write about it since.  What happened was this:

 

I got up bright and early and headed to the kitchen to make coffee.  We’d just had our Concealed Handgun License Class the day before and I was thinking about how to explain to my family why we wanted to get guns and CHLs. The first thing I wanted to get across was that guns, in and of themselves, are not scary or even dangerous.  They are inanimate objects that cannot be offended or angered or just in a bad mood.  The problems arise from ‘Operator Error’, when a person uses a gun in an incorrect, irresponsible, or dangerous manner.  In other words, when human stupidity takes control.  The trick is to ‘Get the Stupid Out.’

(Hey, that’s pretty good, I thought to myself as I dismantled the coffee maker in preparation for making a new pot.  Empty the old grounds, toss the filter, rinse the basket, set it to dry)

That’s why we take Handgun Safety courses, why we take CHL classes, why we go to the range, to try to minimize the chances of stupid taking over.  (Rinse the coffee pot, set it to fill and start the grinder)

Stupid is keeping guns in a home with a mentally unstable person, a la Lanza.  His mother had the ability to store her weapons off site.  She had the ability to keep the ones in her home under lock and key to such an extent he would not have been able to acquire them.  No laws were broken in obtaining the guns that were used at Newtown, just stupidity.

Stupid is figuring a child will respect a shut drawer or will not engage in snooping.  Children in the house with guns mean the guns go in a safe.   Stupid is hand talking while holding a gun.  Stupid is playing games with a gun.  Stupid is not paying attention to who is around you, what is around you.  The best self defense is not getting yourself in a situation where you have to defend yourself.

Stupid is going out and buying a gun (and carrying it) without getting trained. (Pour water into reservoir, grounds into filter, filter into machine, push on)

There are many levels of our lives where stupid intervenes.

The low fuel light is on but I usually have x number of miles before I have to stop…No, not this time.

You only had a few drinks with dinner, you’re good to drive home…not so much.

I’m just going to answer this one text right now, there aren’t any cars close to me.

Honey, I realize you are worrying about money and work and the kids, but can we talk?

And then we can examine stupid in politics…the Church…the world at large…

I was in full voice (albeit in my head) and in excellent form.  Brilliant arguments that simply ‘could not be broken’.  Wisdom, humor… It was a thing of beauty I knew I would have to write on…

And then I looked at the counter and noticed the filter basket lying where I had put it to dry.  I had just place the filter in the machine without including the basket.  Grounds everywhere.  Chewable coffee.

The stupid, it burns.

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: Concealed Handgun License