We are family! I got all my firearms with me!

It's easy to lose track. 

I know that the mass shooting at the Indianapolis FedEx was just a few days ago. But was the Boulder, Colorado, King Soopers store rampage before or after the Atlanta spa murder spree? 

Sandy Hook? Las Vegas music festival? El Paso Walmart? Emanuel AME Church in Charleston? Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School? Sikh Temple in Wisconsin? 

All a million years ago. All a blur. 

Unless it was your child, your father, your sister, your friend who was murdered.

So you don't need me to tell you that there are too many guns in this country in too many hands that shouldn't have guns in them.

, 

Personally, I'm not interested in having any firearm to have or to hold, but I'm not a 100% anti-gun person.

If you want to hunt, hunt.

If you want a handgun to "protect" your family, it's on you to make sure that your two-year-old doesn't end up shoot-to-killing your five-year-old when he finds it under your pillow.

But, yeah, way too many guns in this country. Way too many AR-whatevers that you really don't need to bag a deer, let alone "protect" whatever it is you want to protect. 

And what are we to make of families who don't bond over rooting for the home team, board game night, or quirky senses of humor, but who all get together over firearms. 

As in this beautiful family, three lovely little girls, all dressed up as if they're posing for a Christmas card, armed to the hilt. Not with cute little Hello Kitty pink pistols, or even kiddo deer slayer rifles. But toting weaponry that wouldn't have been out of place in Fallujah. 

One might think that this is a parody photo. Something straight out of The Onion. But, no, it's the shot (sorry!) featured on the front page of Haynes and Sons Guns, a FAMILY store, in the State of Washington. Not to mention in the State of Lunacy.

When do these parents anticipate that they're little girls will need to use these weapons of war? Are they getting geared up for the possibility that some latter-day Emmett Till, some little Black boy - which is what Emmett Till was, however grown up he may have thought he was - wolf whistles at one of them? Maybe some Trayvon Martin's packet of Skittles will look like a gun to the girls' father, and he'll have to jump into better-safe-than-sorry mode. Maybe Tamir Rice, sitting in a park goofing around with a toy gun, will look really threatening.

Because, let's face it, while there are plenty of guns (and gun deaths) in the Black community, it's hard to separate out America's love affair with guns from the issue of race.

White privilege, white nationalism, carries a gun.

And some of those guns were no doubt purchased at this Washington FAMILY store. (The EMPHASIS is theirs.) As their tagline says, We Are Family.

What a marketing angle. Why bother appealing to hunters and home owners when you can aim (sorry) at families. 

So let me be clear, we, as a family, welcome your family to join us. We welcome husbands, wives, girlfriends (never at the same time as the wives LOL), sons, daughters, and babies to come to our home. We will never ask you to leave your children outside, or your wife (unless she is opposed to this current gun purchase;). We have seating for all, and will do our best to accommodate your entire group. We even have a soft kiddie chair so the kids can be part of the action. We can even get them their own kid sized water and will make a cup of Cocoa if so desired.

...we are a family friendly business. What we do offer is a chance to hold every gun in the shop until you find one you like. What we do offer is the opportunity to make every moment with a gun a learning opportunity for the little ones, and sometimes the big ones too, just look on the back of our business cards...We want you to feel comfortable, and we want you to come back.

I'm all for "the little ones" learning gun safety. If there are guns in the house, this should be mandatory. But why would you want your "little ones" to get comfortable around high-powered weapons?

A few years ago, some local guy took his eight-year old son to a gun show in Westfield, Mass, and the kid ended losing control of the Uzi he was playing with and shot himself to death. At about the same time, a nine-year old little girl out in Arizona lost control of the Uzi she was firing and killed her instructor. Hard not to think this was something of a righteous hit. Who puts this sort of weapon in the hands of a child? Who uses children holding these serious weapons as an advertising come-on? Just insane.

...We are a gun shop, and while we are family friendly, we ask that you keep a close and watchful eye on your little ones, you wouldn't let your child run loose in a liquor or knife store, so please watch them closely.

...All of my children were, under very close supervision, shooting by the time they were 3 or 4. As soon as a child can remember the rules of firearm safety, he or she should be able to handle, with supervision, any firearm they can safely maintain. 

3 or 4? Did I just say just insane? Let me say it again: Just insane.

You can't trust a 3-year-old not to run with a popsicle in their mouth. You'd trust one with a firearm? Yikes!

Also, I will note that this shop doesn't sellno assembled ARs. No:

We will only be selling harmless AR Upper and Lower Receivers...We will be selling upper and lower receivers, and if you decide to buy a combo for a discount and later assemble the two, that is between you and the Lord...Please respect our wishes to no longer sell this deadly and evil weapon, and only to sell harmless receivers. Thank you for your support.

Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge. Ho, ho, ho. 

Clever? Not really. Freaking dangerous. 

It almost goes without saying that this FAMILY gun store makes sure we know that they believe that Donald TRUMP is "the True and Rightful President." And no surprise that this image is used on their website. 

WWJD? 

Sure, he went into the temple and gave the moneychangers the heave ho. But I really don't think that the man who said "Blessed are the peacemakers" would be shouldering a high powered rifle. And he wouldn't want any children of God, like those three beautiful little girls, carrying them, either.

Really, enough is enough.