Awkward! Outgoing WH Spokesperson Robert Gibbs had an uncomfortable moment when a Russian journalist suggested that gun violence is also an American freedom.

Was the Arizona shooting rampage an inevitable byproduct of Americans having too much freedom?

Andrei Sitov, a reporter for official Russia news agency ITAR-TASS, argued that the "quote-unquote freedom of the deranged mind to react violently: It is also America."

Gibbs told Sitov he "vehemently" disagreed. "That is not America," Gibbs said

Oh really? Far be it for me to go against the disinformation of the right wing noise machine and the NRA, but Sitov has a pretty apt point. The US leads by a huge margin the number of gun-related acts of violence among the industrialized nations.

Sadly, sensible gun control seems to have replaced Social Security and Medicare as the untouchable "third rail" in politics today. I can't believe that there is a credible argument for keeping extended magazines, allowing semi-automatic weapons 30 or more shots, or as Rachel Maddow showed on Friday, make automatic weapons a little less easy to get.

So unfortunately, Mr. Gibbs, until we start having a truly honest discussion about gun control, the right for a deranged mind to act violently with guns IS an American freedom.

The Legal Community Against Violence has published Ten Myths About Gun Violence(.pdf) for more information.