Just for argument's sake, let's say that your humble Webmaster is walking down the street, minding my own business, carrying a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson pistol under my jacket (with a valid CHL) in one of those secure holsters from Uncle Mike's or Blackhawk, and I just happen to bump into President Barack Obama all by his lonesome - no Secret Service, no military, no nothin'. He's got half an hour to kill, and so do I, so we grab some food from a street vendor and share a park bench, feeding the pigeons with some of our breadcrumbs.
We discuss health care, Iraq, renewable energy, and science education. And we do so like rational, mature human beings.
Then comes the point when Obama finally notices the butt of my handgun peeking out from under my jacket. "You know," he tells me in a more serious tone, "I'm not a big fan of concealed carry. No offense to you, but that's just not part of the value system I grew up with."
"No harm done," I respond. "It's admittedly a complicated issue, but I still hold out hope for a workable nationwide reciprocity system."
Obama then shares with me a couple of incidents where children in his Chicago neighborhood were gunned down by gangsters and thugs, telling me how their deaths spurred his community activism and shaped his political career. I listen patiently, knowing full well that no parent should have to bury their child.
Finally, the half hour is up. Obama's limousine arrives, his agent on duty snaps a picture of the two of us with my camera, we shake hands and wish each other well, and I head down the street while Obama heads back to his official duties.
That's just me, of course. Obviously, it's highly unrealistic to expect this sort of contact with a sitting President in today's world, especially in light of all of the fear-mongering by the insurance companies and their hired lackeys who disrupt townhall meetings with an endless stream of anger and BS. It's safe to say that at least 80% of those anti-reform bully boys, had they been in my position, would have responded to Obama's presence by trying to inflict harm on him.
All I ever wanted during the past eight years was to see George W. Bush hauled off in handcuffs to stand trial for his crimes against America. But there is so much anger and hatred in our nation today - and so many people behind the scenes who have a vested interest in keeping it that way. These disruptors don't want civilization or decorum. Many of them aren't even capable of wanting something - instead, they wait for someone to tell them what they're supposed to want.
And that is not the sort of citizenry you can trust with concealed handguns in front of the President.
When I spoke up on this subject yesterday, someone asked me what my point was. Did I just want to vent about Bush? If so, what did that have to do with my hypothetical afternoon in the park with Obama and a concealed handgun?
My point is that we need to take a hard look at what kind of citizenry we want to be. That guy may have had a legal right to wear his pistol at the site of yesterday's townhall in New Hampshire, but from what I could tell, his presence was all about intimidation and bluster. I try to aspire to a mindset that's more mature and pensive than that - something that evokes Lincoln's timeless remarks about "the better angels of our nature."
I hope most of my fellow Americans feel the same way as I do about striving for civility and forethought. I know my fellow Democrats do - even the ones who think I should never be issued a CHL.