Changing perspective

Found that link over at Kevin Baker's place this morning, so I clicked to the article and read it.

Kevin found the quote from the salty charter captain to be compelling;

“I just left a sporting goods store and you would think that the number-one selling item would be plywood or potable water or gasoline right now,” he said. “Apparently it is AR-15s and .223 ammo. I watched at least 20 people buy AR-15s and cases of .223.”

True enough, and I am certainly in agreement with the notion that the general populace being armed is a good one, considering the results from the last debacle that was Katrina.

However, Snow writes this, which really got me;

The AR buying spree demonstrates that people don’t think of it as an “assault weapon” but rather an arm that is ideally suited for self-defense...

I think what he's observing is a physical manifestation (purchasing a firearm for personal defense in the face of imminent or perceived danger, based in experience, as it stands) in a tidal shift in the way people (some, anyway) are perceiving the gun, and particularly the detachable magazine fed semi-auto. It's now just a good tool for the job.

The application of reason to the problem of survival. That's progress folks.