So this happened:

Five South Dakota lawmakers have introduced legislation that would require any adult 21 or older to buy a firearm “sufficient to provide for their ordinary self-defense.”

The bill, which would take effect Jan. 1, 2012, would give people six months to acquire a firearm after turning 21. The provision does not apply to people who are barred from owning a firearm.

Nor does the measure specify what type of firearm. Instead, residents would pick one “suitable to their temperament, physical capacity, and preference.”

The measure is known as an act “to provide for an individual mandate to adult citizens to provide for the self defense of themselves and others.”

That idiot John Cole thinks this is inherently ridiculous, but for all the wrong reasons; Atrios doesn’t think it makes sense either. But here’s the thing: of course it does, if you agree with the ‘logic’ of HCR.

Here’s how that ‘reasoning’ goes: everyone needs healthcare at some point in their lives, therefore it’s a necessary function. Instead of providing that necessary function via government, it is legal to FORCE your citizens to pay private companies up to 20% of their income, annually, who are then not actually required to provide any meaningful care, not even the care necessary to keep them alive.

True story.

So the gun-nut version of that logic is: everyone needs *security* at some point in their lives. Sensible people would want to provide this security through a public option, ie, government operated police and military forces. But HCR shows us that you can instead force citizens to pay unreliable private companies for their necessary functions instead.

A slightly better analogy would be to abolish all police forces in the state and then force everyone to hire Blackwater mercs to patrol the streets, but otherwise it’s a spot on comparison. Actually, I take that back; Blackwater is bound by contract laws, whereas insurance companies routinely violate their policies with impunity.

So you’d get a better deal from Blackwater. (and no, I won’t call them ‘Xe’ or whatever Artist-Formerly-Known-As name they’re using this week)