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In truth, there is no rational argument for guns in this society. This is no longer a frontier nation in which people hunt their own food. It is a crowded, overwhelmingly urban country in which letting people have access to guns is a continuing disaster.
Molly Ivins
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote critiques the rationale for gun ownership in a modern, urban society.

Molly Ivins argues that the historical justification for widespread gun ownership, based on the necessity of self-hunting and survival in a frontier society, is no longer applicable in today's densely populated and urbanized context. She suggests that allowing easy access to guns leads to ongoing societal problems and dangers, emphasizing the need for a reevaluation of gun laws in light of contemporary realities.

Themes

GunsSocietyUrbanSafetyViolence

In practice

Example use cases

In a debate about gun control laws, this quote effectively highlights the risks of lax regulations in modern society.

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Imagine wasting all that perfectly good anger on paranoid fantasies. Not since Emily Litella got upset about "Soviet jewelry" has there been such a waste of anger. You will notice a certain theme to these Emily Litella Moments. Behind them all is a touching faith that someone, somewhere is actually in charge of what's happening - a proposition I beg leave to doubt.
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All anyone needs to enjoy the state legislature is a strong stomach and a complete insensitivity to the needs of the people. As long as you don't think about what that peculiar body should be doing and what it actually is doing to the quality of life in Texas, then it's all marvelous fun.
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