American obsession with guns will benefit Canada.

Annette, in fact, your humble servant is reading a 2007 book by Richard Florida entitled The Flight of the Creative Class. In it, he argues, observes that talent today has many geographic options. America, the USA, is no longer the only destination of talent. Options like Toronto, Canada and Auckland, New Zealand exist, and we in effect are competing now internationally for talent, not just locally. The best talent will not automatically consider the USA its first choice.

This will become a huge issue if and when people are allowd to carry pistols in holsters openly in public in the USA. This is, believe it or not, a key rising political issue in our Madison, Wisconsin area. People are going to public places, e.g. restaurants, with loaded weapons in holsters, and they are claiming a constitutional right to do this in America. If this becomes legal, accepted practice, look for the flight of the creative class from America to become a race for the exits from the USA to other geographic locations that do not allow cowboy antics in the Information Age.

The local politicians here claim to want to bring, create jobs; after saying this, they start pushing public display of loaded weapons! Your humble servant literally heard a candidate for Wisconsin State Senate say this at a dinner last night. Canada, where this writer has options, looks better and better. Your professor is an example of the new creative class who has geographic options and is not place-bound as in the factory, farm age.

This writer has placed an election sign for the opponent of this "gun nut" in his front yard now.

The other danger is the public arming of persons of a certain political persuasion could result in overt violence against persons who disagree with them. Imagine having a political rally and your opponents show up with loaded weapons. It would have a chilling effect on politics and could quickly degenerate into "politics by the gun," not the ballot. This is a very real potential and lethal danger to democratic processes. It is not just the danger of increased, random public violence because of "bad hair days" or drunken feuds in and outside taverns.

The Flight of the Creative Class by Richard Florida sadly sounds a warning about the future loss of critical human resources from the USA if this trend toward Wild West gun-slinging takes root.