Stop The Gun Metaphors, Please

Folks in Benton County, Arkansas are unhappy that their State Legislators approve the expansion of Medicaid in their state as part of Obamacare.  Emotions are so high that columnist Chris Nogy wrote in a newsletter that his fellow Republicans might want to exercise their 2nd Amendment rights on some legislators.

"So what do we do? While I believe that we as a party are done in Arkansas after this, if there is ANY hope of our survival, it is going to take not being forgiving. Not only for past actions, but to show those who will come in the future that the cost of failure to do the thing they were elected to do will be significant. We need to be making a point of this failure from this moment on. We need to make a public statement from our groups that we no longer support those who turned on us, that we will NOT be working to their re-election, that we will be actively seeking replacements, and perhaps even working towards recall. We as the Party have to stand up and say ‘no more – you were given a job, you campaigned on the promise to do this job, you had the ability to do this job, you had the votes each time to do this job, and yet for no legitimate reason you betrayed the trust put in you by the electorate and you are now completely and permanently politically finished.’

We need to let those who will come in the future to represent us that we are serious. The 2nd amendment means nothing unless those in power believe you would have no problem simply walking up and shooting them if they got too far out of line and stopped responding as representatives. It seems that we are unable to muster that belief in any of our representatives on a state or federal level, but we have to have something, something costly, something that they will fear that we will use if they step out of line. If we can’t shoot them, we have to at least be firm in our threat to take immediate action against them politically, socially, and civically if they screw up on something this big. Personally, I think a gun is quicker and more merciful, but hey, we can’t."

This metaphor is used way too often by the GOP.  Sarah Palin enjoyed encouraging her supporters by saying, "don't retreat, reload."  Her website also had a map:

 

One of those targets over Arizona was Rep. Gabby Giffords' district.  Giffords is, if you don't remember, the Congresswoman who took a bullet to the head, in 2011, after a gunman opened fire at one of her outdoor rallies in her district.  In addition to wounding the Congresswoman, 17 people were shot and 6 died.  The youngest victim was a 9-year-old girl.  Is it coincidence that the gunman targeted her and didn't get the idea from Palin's website?  Perhaps.  But there is a big problem with even suggesting constituents kill their lawmakers.  That is not how our system works.  The 2nd Amendment was not written to stop more people from having health coverage.  

In 2010, Sharron Angle ran against Harry Reid for Senate in Nevada and seemed to suggest that violence might be the answer in case she didn't win the election.  I say "seemed to suggest" because she refused to answer questions about what she meant by "second amendment remedies."

These are only a few examples but they are not isolated incidents.  This rhetoric is used all the time in politics and predominantly on the Right.  It needs to stop because sometimes it can be taken seriously and people get hurt.  There are much more constructive ways to make a point.  If you cannot make your point without making a gun metaphor, perhaps you need to open a thesaurus.