We just returned from our annual three-day trip to friends' house in Meshoppen, PA. Meshoppen is a small, very rural community about 40 miles northwest of Scranton, PA.
Before the discovery of more advanced drilling techniques, it used to be primarily agricultural and actually still is but many large land owners in the area have signed leases that give their mineral rights to companies that extract and transport natural gas-a very, very hot commodity at the moment.
This phenomena has transformed the region somewhat in that millions of dollars are flowing in-along with more people, trucks and heavy duty construction equipment. The land owners are not complaining though since they are benefiting as well.
While I could go on to explore the pros and cons of one of the aspects of gas drilling (fracking-a very controversial method of extracting every cubic foot of gas possible), it is not about that.
I'm actually commenting on a Founders Day event recently put on by a neighboring town. There were thousands of booths and displays-and people-up and down Main Street and among them was at least one booth decrying the evils of government in general and gun control in particular. One of their slogans is "if guns kill people, then pencils misspell words."
According to the couple we were visiting, there are more than a few people in the area who completely agree with the sentiments expressed in that profound lack of logic-a fact which I took the opportunity to point out. While our hosts are gun-rights enthusiasts, they agreed and laughed about it. So I don't mean to disparage them in any way but it is interesting to see how the further you get from 'here', the more this kind of thinking pervades the community.
What does that say about the chances of seeing progress in the area of gun control on a national level? I fear the issue is doomed-or to put it another way-death by GSW!
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