Quote:
Originally Posted by GenuineRisk
The government is not going to pass any laws making gun ownership more restrictive. They're just not. But unfortunately, the NRA is more than happy to stir up people's fears that the government will, because it will sell more guns. Gun ownership is declining in terms of the number of households that own guns, but the number of guns in those households is increasing. Danzig gave a perfect example, when she said she's likely to purchase more, even though she already owns more than she ever thought she would (I'm not saying you're buying out of fear, of course, Danzig, just that you're an example of a household owning more than one firearm, which is a change from a few decades ago).
It's all about moving product, and fear is an exceptionally effective marketing tool.
I wish we could have a conversation about gun violence without it turning into screaming cries of "Freedom!" because, mental health issues aside, there are many, many gun owners who should not be gun owners because they are simply not responsible enough to own one (I have the same feeling about many pet owners). The NY Times ran a piece a few weeks ago about children who die from accidental gun shootings and it was both heartbreaking and head slapping in the careless way these parents and relatives treated their firearms. But even a level-headed conversation is hard because the US gov't froze funds on research into gun violence 20 years ago and even Newtown couldn't change that:
http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa...-violence.aspx
The NRA continues to spend a lot of money lobbying against any research into gun violence. What are they so afraid of?
Maybe the findings of the 1993 study that led to the slashing of federal funding:
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056...99310073291506 |
I would tend to agree with the majority of this - Namely:
1. The principle issue being irresponsible possession - people that should not have guns are getting them from someone/somewhere that circumvents/violates the background checklist.
2. Which immediately knee-jerks directly into "more laws" against responsible gun ownership.
3. which then immediately knee-jerks into "OMG they are grabbing our guns! Let's buy more before Obama outlaws them!!"
4. Which feeds the lobby and in turn the legislature responsible for the laws in the first place.
Rinse. Repeat.
For the record, I am a staunch Constitutionalist, and I DO NOT support the govt's intervention into any sort of national database of insane people, or serialized gun registration. If the woman in Newtown, who's alleged crazy son grabbed her guns to kill those kids isn't held accountable for her poor judgement which led to her decision to keep firearms within arm's reach of the nutcase - then the whole discussion devolves into meaningless finger-pointing.
Owning a gun is probably the most important decision an American can make; because once you take ownership of that weapon, YOU are responsible for what happens with it. Period.