Guns and abortions: What the right and the left have in common

This post is inspired by news this morning that Iowa's three-day waiting period for an abortion is about to be tested in a courtroom.  The plaintiffs contend that the law discriminates against women in that no other medical procedure is required to entail such a waiting period under state law.

So why should anyone mind a three-day wait?  What difference does it make?

When this question occurred to me on the drive in this morning, that thought connected up with the NRA's adamant stance against any, even the most nonintrusive and commonsensical, gun-control bills.  It comes down to that darn camel's nose.

Both sides are ever-vigilant about any new law or regulation that may put their most precious issue on the slippery slope to illegality.

The other thing they have in common:  both sides accuse the other of causing millions of unnecessary deaths.

Second-Amendment advocates respond that arming the good guys actually saves lives.  Free-choice proponents point to a woman's right to control her own body, while usually adding that fetuses (feti?) aren't people.

I wonder if any of them ever take a step back from the fray to ponder the things they have in common.