I drive for a living. 18 wheels, ten tons minimum at any given time. To speed up is painfully slow, and usually ticks people off behind me for having to wait. There is no flooring the pedal and burning out. Stopping? Forget the nonsense from the Jackie Chan movies. To stop requires thought and calculation. It requires space, lots of it.

So I try to think well ahead and avoid trouble, plus when in a construction zone or near a ramp I slow down and let some of the outsiders in.

I have had many experiences, being cut off, sped past, a long list. One thing has happened more than once and I still am speechless when I see it:

If I’m turned left under a bridge I take both left turn lanes to let people know I’m turning and keep them clear. But now and then someone is so sure they have to be FIRST, and get there now that they will swing outside in the far right, then cut a right angle, that’s right, a perfect right angle, cutting under my hood within possibly three or four inches of being hit. I am moving toward them at the time, and if I struck them I would go over the top and crush them to death. The faster I’m going, the harder they try to beat me. They brush within a hand’s length of death, then drive on as if nothing happened. If I honk my horn I’m ignored or get the finger.

These are ordinary citizens, not stunt men, stricken with the foulest of ills: major stupidity.

What is the point of the story? Every one of these people has two things: a driver’s license and a car.

I am always hearing about the evils of guns, how people need to rely on the police and keep posters of Rosie O’Donnell for reverence. The irony that amazes me is that these paranoids never stop to realize that the six o’clock news is replete with stories of speeders, drunk drivers, and in the last two nights one set of teens who ate a guard rail at 120 mph, as well as a woman who weaved through warning arms and met a train.

These people use a weapon far more common than a gun, which requires a license for which we must qualify. My license was much harder to get. These people choose to abuse their licenses knowing full well what risks they run and with total disregard for anyone but themselves. There are far more of them than gunners, far more accidents because of them than because of gunners, and they do this with FULL INTENT, such as a gun owner who points toward his face to watch a muzzle flash.

One other thing comes to mind: If I as a gun owner was to act reclessly and injure someone, I’d face criminal charges, a lawsuit (maybe more than one), jail time, loss of my license and having my guns taken away, for starters.

In Texas, drunks can get up to 18, that’s right, eighteen arrests and they can remain out of jail. They continue driving, and may or may not lose their licenses. Speeders rack up the tickets. Have you ever known a shooter to go to class and get his ticket written off and insurance reduced, plus a free meal?? Yet a car can kill do damage equal to a firearm, and accounts for much more abuse.

How often do people cry out for car bans, car control, or more sensible car laws? Do we have a coalition to take drivers off the road who are hazzards? Possibly we could arrange the Moms Against Reckless Drivers march. I wonder if Rosie’s limo driver speeds or misbehaves when Rosie pie and her highly protected classified kids are late for a show.

amazing ironies. Gene