Thursday, June 26, 2008

Gays, Guns & God

In observation of today's Supreme Court's decision that the Second Amendment (at least the "well regulated militia" part) doesn't mean squat, here's an item from The Onion.
Homoerotic Overtones Enliven NRA Meeting February 19,1997 COEUR D'ALENE, ID—Repression was the order of the day as the National Rifle Association's North Idaho Chapter held its annual convention this weekend. More than 25,000 dedicated gun lovers from across Northern Idaho flocked to the Coeur d'Alene Convention Center for the two-day event, happily sublimating homosexual impulses amid a carefully maintained facade of platonic camaraderie. Moscow, ID, resident Richard Hoflinger, 47, a longtime gun-rights activist, exhibited the collection of antique rifles through which he has channeled his culturally unacceptable impulses. "Guns should be part of any upstanding Christian family," Hoflinger said, sticking a long, thick, oily pipe-cleaner 14 inches up an 1886 Remington. In the next booth, another latent gay man, Duane Erlich, moved his hand slowly up and down a well-polished 1948 Winchester. "Ain't she a beautiful baby?" he said, displaying the kind of feminization/infantilization of firearms for which NRA members are renowned. Erlich then demonstrated the proper loading procedure for his "baby," lovingly inserting a pair of bullets into the dark, snug-fitting tunnels before thrusting the gun's bolt smoothly into the action, cocking it firmly. "This'll blow a man straight to heaven," he said. The tone of the event was set by chapter president John Henry Unger, whose opening remarks cited the "wonderful variety of weaponry on display, from little snub-nosed pieces that fit snugly in your pocket to big, meaty shooters with barrels as thick as your arm." Unger then fired his father's prize Colt Peacemaker revolver into the air, drawing raucous applause from the crowd, many of whose own fathers had suppressed latent physical attraction for their adolescent sons by channeling forbidden feelings into totemistic firearms. All over the convention floor, gun manufacturers proudly unveiled new technologies which will allow simmering homoerotic tensions to be expressed with greater nuance than ever before. At the Smith & Wesson booth, company spokesman Darrell Trace displayed a handgun made from a newly developed metal alloy whose "incredibly hard" nature, he explained, gives it no recoil after use, providing its user with "a far greater sense of control over his piece." "It's a very comfortable gun, very soft in the hands," Trace added, noting that Smith & Wesson had designed the gun to appeal to "shooters tired of coming home from the firing range with sore, worn-out wrists." But even as conventioneers reveled in a two-day orgy of firearm-to-phallus transference, a dark cloud hung over the event. The NRA has declined in power over the last decade, and its once-potent lobbyists have come out on the small end of key legislative battles like the Brady Bill, causing many members to bring their lifelong subconscious fears of castration to the fore. "If the gun-control lobby wants my rod, they'll have to yank it from my dead body," said Pocatello-area bar-owner Joseph Greer, holding a tell-tale snub-nosed revolver. "Those guys up there in Washington are tryin' to take our guns away, but we ain't gonna let 'em," Greer continued, adding classic paternal displacement to the already rich psychosexual tapestry. "No siree, Bob."
©The Onion. Used w/o permission. You tough English majors going to do anything about it?

4 comments:

Glennis said...

Very funny!! I heart the Onion.

You're writing a lot, my friend!! I'm having a hard time keeping up to date, work has been hectic.

Are you in a good place these days? You have time to write and think. That's a good thing.

M. Bouffant said...

The Editor Replies:

Until today, we've been able to get as much as 4.5 hrs. of webbery a day, between Mental Health Day Care & the S. M. & L. A. Libraries, but today the card # we were using at the S. M. Library expired (borrowed it from a fellow homeless web logger who is now in a shelter & therefore able to use his lap-top at the library, our wallet having been stolen, & the S. M. Library unwilling to replace the card w/o an ID, which of course was stolen w/ everything else, blah blah blah...but our trip to the DMV today will enable us to get new cards soon, & we had the sense not to report the L. A. card as stolen; we can still use their facilities) so expect a bit less typing in the immediate future.

We have been making the best of our time lately, haven't we? (We say in all modesty.) Being unemployed & homeless does give one plenty of time to think & type, & no matter how depressed or rage-filled we get, we can always spew it world-wide on the web.

And maybe after close to two yrs. of medication (w/ some time off due to running out of samples & not seeking more, & a hassle w/ the County shrink where she left us high & dry w/o a refill for two wks., & threatened us w/ a restraining order because we had been righteously outraged at the incompetence & stupidity of our former case worker) it's finally working & we aren't quite ready to go on a killing spree/suicide by cop. Or maybe it's just that it's awfully hard to be agoraphobic w/o a house, home or apt., & we're forced to be out in the sun, curing us of Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Thanks for the encouragement, & stop working so hard!!

Larry Harmon said...

Hey Bouff,
You seem to be dealing with homelessness better than anyone could expect you to, maybe it's because living with Cordelia gave you a life-long expectation that the worst-case scenario will come true.....
P.

M. Bouffant said...

From The Editor's Desk:

We'll see. Wait'll we get some moolah & go to a no background check gun show!!