CNN's Chris Cuomo interviewed left-wing darling Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and naturally asked why she didn't attend Biden's inauguration.  Her reason, she said, was that she and some of her colleagues "don't yet feel safe around other Members of Congress."

Cuomo, making an awkward attempt to speak in her generational tongue, asked for her to clarify.  "You really think that colleagues of yours in Congress may do you dirty?"

Of course, she said.  After all, people have guns there, which is just unacceptable in the District of Columbia.  "For individuals who don't know," she says, "guns are not allowed in the District of Columbia."

We've become accustomed to such displays of pure ignorance from the young bartender/taco waitress–turned-congresswoman, but there's something in this exchange that seems particularly instructive.

First of all, that "guns are not allowed in the District of Columbia" is a shocking revelation to the people who legally own guns there.  It must be particularly shocking to the people who have concealed carry permits issued in the District of Columbia.  If you are interested in applying for one, you can find a link to D.C.'s Concealed Carry Pistol License Application here.

While that should be shocking enough, consider that the District of Columbia was the centerpiece of arguably the most pivotal Supreme Court ruling in American history.  The 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller remains a vital precedent in current jurisprudence on the Second Amendment.  The Supreme Court struck down the D.C. ban on handguns, holding that it violated the Constitution.  Justice Scalia offered a magisterial review of the Second Amendment, including the way in which racists used gun control to disarm Blacks, and concluded that the entire weight of American law was that "the Second Amendment protected an individual right to use arms for self-defense."

Most people would conclude that this is all pretty important information as it relates to guns being "allowed in the District of Columbia."  And honestly, given the circles in which she travels, AOC could be forgiven for not knowing it.  But what's not forgivable is the presumption of her own expertise (and the public's ignorance) that precedes the totally incorrect thing that she so confidently said.  "For individuals who don't know..."

Perhaps this is the logical result of a generation of children being raised to value their own opinions and feelings more than objective facts and truth.  AOC feels so secure in her ignorance that she lectures the public for not subscribing to the falsehoods that she holds as her deepest beliefs, and she confidently gives audiences the full benefit of her inexperience.

And Cuomo, you'll notice, couldn't be bothered to correct her.  But then, it seems clear that Chris "show me where it says that protests are supposed to be polite and peaceful" Cuomo seems none too knowledgeable about the First Amendment and has also proven his inability to grasp the purpose of the Second.  Again, in fairness to AOC, one might conclude that her unwarranted confidence and self-assigned expertise are less a problem among the youth than they are a general problem among the left.

Image: AOC caricature by DonkeyHotey. CC BY-SA 2.0.