The phrase "jumping the shark" was actually derived from an episode of the classic TV series Happy Days. The show's ultra cool character Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli (played brilliantly by actor Henry Winkler) had his bravery challenged in the show's fifth season opener set in Hollywood. Fonz would answer said challenge by donning a pair of water skis and jumping over a shark kept in a confined area in the water. Many TV fans speculated that the long running TV series lost quite a bit (if not all) of its folksy luster after that episode. Hence the phrase "jumping the shark" becoming a euphemism for much that becomes passé.
Which brings me to the horrific shooting which took place at the Washington DC Navy Yard on Monday, where gunman Aaron Alexis killed 12 people before police took him out in a gun battle. Whenever a tragic shooting takes place (and let's face, there have been several high-profile incidents over the past 3-4 years), the "gun control" demagoguery hits a fever pitch. As soon as news broke of the Navy Yard shooting, speculation was abound as to who would first politicize this awful tragedy in the name of "gun control."
It didn't take us long to find out.
ANOTHER shooting in WASH D.C. PLEASE America do nothing to promote gun control .because thats how we roll until we have all shot each other— Henry Winkler (@hwinkler4real) September 16, 2013
Kudos to Twitchy for capturing the text of Winkler's tweet before he apparently deleted it.
With that statement, Winkler made history on Monday in that he is now only person to ever jump the shark both literally and figuratively.
In my mind, the leftist mantra of "gun control" pretty much "jumped the shark" with this incident in general. You see, the Navy Yard was one of those "gun free" zones. However, many employees there are proficient in firearm usage. If those who were trained for such usage were allowed to legally carry on the grounds, do you think for one second that Mr. Alexis, a subcontractor with the Navy Yard, would have followed through with this rampage? Highly unlikely, especially when you consider he would know full well whether or not employees were allowed to carry.
Those who continue to cluck about "gun control" need to be more intellectually honest with themselves. There was a mass shooting in Chicago on Thursday where 13 people were killed. But Chicago has some of the more restrictive gun regulations in the country, so one has to wonder how such an thing could have happened. In addition, this story didn't get nearly the coverage that the Navy Yard shooting received. The reasoning behind that? Well, a slightly more cynical person could ascertain that it doesn't fit in neatly to the ol' "gun control" narrative.
Again, I might listen intently to the gun grabbers if they actually conveyed a solution which would appear to have a chance at curbing gun violence. But pretty much every proposal that has been bandied about over the past few years would not have prevented the high profile tragedies in Tucson, AZ, Aurora, CO, Newtown, CT or Washington DC. And given that there are an average of nearly 12 victims of gun violence every weekend in Chicago, we have concrete evidence that tighter gun restrictions aren't a deterrent. Not that we'll ever hear that narrative among the left and their media cohorts.
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