Marco Rubio vs ISIS

This is the guy who's going to fight ISIS when they invade Florida. Yeah, think about that.

Marco Rubio bought a handgun on Christmas Eve,... because, you know, what would Jesus do? And what else are you going to do on Christmas Eve anyway, right?

And when asked about it, he explained how he's going to be the "last line of defense" when ISIS invades:

"In fact, if ISIS were to visit us or our communities at any moment, the last line of defense between ISIS and my family is the ability I have to protect my family from them..."

Yeah, just Marco Rubio, his pistol, and his bottle of water, standing off the ISIS hordes. Oh, it would make a great movie, wouldn't it?

Of course, it would be a fantasy movie - and a comedy, too. I mean,... seriously? But this is why so many of these Barney Fifes buy their guns. It makes them feel macho. It makes them feel manly. And they imagine defending their loved ones from people who would do them harm.

That's all quite understandable, except that it's their own gun that's far more likely to do harm to their loved ones. If you have your gun unloaded and locked up, what good will it do you when ISIS kicks down your door? But if not, you're really putting your family at risk.

And the idea that ISIS could be held off with Marco Rubio's pistol is just ludicrous. It's pure fantasy. It's confusing action movie heroes with yourself. It's confusing movie fantasy with reality.

This is a guy who wants to be President of the United States, yet he's that out of touch with reality. This is the guy who rarely attends votes in the Senate - after all, he's only being paid $174,000 a year to do his job, so why should he bother actually doing it? - where he might actually accomplish something to,... you know, actually affect ISIS.

Ludicrous fantasies like this wouldn't be a problem - well, if he weren't running for President of the United States, at least - except that they have real-world consequences. Guns put innocent people at risk. That's just a fact.

Marco Rubio may think he's Jason Bourne, John McClane, and Rambo all rolled into one, but the reality is quite different. Didn't we have enough of fantasy-based presidents with George W. Bush?

PZ Myers puts it well:

There’s our problem in a nutshell. One of our presidential candidates thinks that ISIS/ISIL/Daesh is credibly going to invade Florida, that they’re going to break into his house, and that he’ll be able to fight them off with a pistol. That’s such a fantastically naive and childish vision of a sociopolitical conflict that it tells me he’s got an unrealistic view on how to handle a serious problem, and that what’s driving him is really an irrational fear.