The Illusionary Division

According to the Star Tribune Minnesota Democrats are split on the issue of gun control. The divide, for all intents and purposes, is illusionary:

A bipartisan majority of Minnesota House members and gun-rights groups are lining up to back a new proposal at the State Capitol that would tighten penalties on Minnesotans who obtain weapons illegally and would prohibit felons from owning ammunition.

[…]

But the proposal also is laying bare the divide within the DFL on gun rights, and could signal the first serious dissension within a party that now controls the Legislature. Rep. Michael Paymar, DFL-St. Paul, who heads the House Public Safety and Finance Committee, has already proposed a bill featuring universal background checks — an element that gun safety activists say is key step toward restricting gun violence.

The two options are expanding the state’s power by give state agents more data and new crimes to charge people with or by prohibiting private sales of firearms. No matter which side wins we, the people, lose. But the illusion of choice exists and ,so long as that illusion exists, people will believe they are free.