Lindsay Beyerstein at Majikthise:
I’m so sick of the charges and counter-charges of “exploitation” of the Va-Tech massacre for political purposes.
If people of good will think that they have an apt political point to make, let them make it without assailing them for somehow taking advantage of the tragedy. That goes for both the gun control and the anti-gun control camps.
Current events should shape policy discussions.
It’s not a question of exploitation. It’s a matter of proffering solutions and offering critiques while our increasingly fragmented national attention is focused on an issue.
If Instapundit thinks that the concealed carry ban caused the tragedy, let him say so. I think it’s a dumb argument, but I don’t see why there should be any kind of inverse statute of limitations for offering it. Yesterday I made fun of some wingnuts for rifling through their personal anxiety closets in public, trying to come to terms with the killings–but I was mocking them for saying stupid and venal things, not for “exploiting” anyone’s death.
Trying to enforce an arbitrary line between “human” and “political” responses to tragedies is a political strategy in its own right.
More here.