Out of work? Strap on your wittle gunny-poo and have a parade.

More than 400 people lost their jobs at Northern Beef Packers during the past week.  Not to worry.  A bunch of patriots are having an Open Carry Walk in Sioux Falls this Saturday.  The title refers to people openly parading up and down the street with firearms.  It does not refer to carrying open beer cans or bottles of single malt, which act might get you arrested.  It is promoted as a demonstration of First and Second Amendment rights.

 It is an occasion for grown ups to forget their troubles and live out their juvenile fantasies, which were honed on Saturday afternoon movies and television reruns.  When you carry a weapon in  public, it is a sign.  The sign says:

 "Me big man.  Me have big gun.  Me can shoot the shit out of you any time me want."

 One strongly suspects that great patriot and humanitarian, George Zimmerman, is the inspiration for the event.  

We don't know if the  unemployed are invited to participate.  Their weapons, if they have any, might be in hock.  But we assume that anyone so inclined can carry dolls or wheel doll buggies and join in the festival of things juvenile.
  
Men and women who have attained the status of maturity and conscious citizenship don't have to play at being men and women.  Their attitudes and lives attest that they have attained constructively adult status.

We wonder if the patriots who attend might pause a moment or two to read the names of the victims at the Aurora movie theater or the Sandy Hook elementary school.  Or maybe pause and consider the 19,184 souls who, according to Center for Disease Control estimates, died at the muzzle of a gun since Sandy Hook.  Sixty percent of those were suicides, which is a great comfort.  But the Open Carry Walk sponsors say the event is to demonstrate responsible citizens carrying firearms.

That should bring great comfort to everyone.  It might even suggest a solution to those despairing of finding work in this great land.