RKBA is a DKos group of second amendment supporters who also have progressive and liberal values. We don't think that being a liberal means one has to be anti-gun. Some of us are extreme in our second amendment views (no licensing, no restrictions on small arms) and some of us are more moderate (licensing, restrictions on small arms.) Moderate or extreme, we hold one common belief: more gun control equals lost elections. We don't want a repeat of 1994. We are an inclusive group: if you see the Second Amendment as safeguarding our right to keep and bear arms individually, then come join us in our conversation. If you are against the right to keep and bear arms, come join our conversation. We look forward to seeing you, as long as you engage in a civil discussion.
The RKBA group here on DKos has been attacked for 'repeating right wing memes'. If I decipher that correctly, it means we are being accused of repeating right wing talking points. Just as being paranoid doesn't mean there aren't people out to get you, just making a point that's true doesn't make it wrong because the NRA repeats it. Here's our memes, and some of the reasons for them.
This isn't intended to be another argument about Heller. If you think that was wrong, then please work to get Judge Henderson made Chief Justice, it's only 30 years until Roberts is ready to quit.
This isn't a diary about 31 round magazines. If you think they need to be outlawed go for it.
It is a discussion about this RKBA group's memes and reasoning behind them. Warning, memes follow...
We have a Constitution with a Bill of Rights. The second right enumerated is the right to bear arms. Note that a right isn't granted from power, but something that belongs to (in this case) The People and can't be touched except in judicious ways by careful laws. We have a lot of laws regarding this, including laws that would have prevented every school shooting in the last decade had they been obeyed and enforced. We are in favor of laws that make sense regarding gun sales and ownership.
In no recent (20 years) mass shooting case did a gun dealer fail to follow the laws regarding sale. In every case of an insane shooter, no information was given by any mental health professional to the NICS database that would have stopped sale. The mechanism exists to do it. In the Columbine case, an illegal straw purchase was made, and blatantly illegal sale was made to underage individuals. We support enforcement of the laws existing with mandatory jail time if that's what it takes to get people's attention. I for one would not sell a handgun to someone who does not pass a NICS check, but that's voluntary. Over 80% of gun owners (http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org) support such a law being made mandatory.
We believe that inherent in the right to bear arms and probably preceding it is a right to self defense. We feel that stripping lawful ownership of weapons for self defense from law-abiding citizens just makes 'safe for crime' zones. We believe criminals exploit this and it makes illegal gun possession by criminals MORE likely - guns are now proportionally more powerful when your victims are unarmed. We have a favorite meme for this: "When Seconds Count the Police are only Minutes Away". We understand that upper class mostly white progressive types believe in the meme that they are secure with less guns in their possession. We also think lower class, many brown and black people know better and wish they could protect themselves legally - but are likely to do so by possessing a gun illegally because as usual they lack the political power to change the system.
We also know the origins of gun control were racist and class based. Nixon thought all guns should be outlawed. We know Reagan signed the California Mulford law outlawing carrying a loaded gun anywhere because he feared the Black Panthers. George Bush Sr. said all handguns should be outlawed and rifles licensed. Note how the right wing is NOW using opposition to gun control for political advantage - this isn't their historical stance - the right has ALWAYS opposed gun ownership before the 1990's, gun ownership endangers wealth and privilege.
Ronnie the Raygunz Worst Nightmare
Please note the 'banana clip' handy thing to have if you are defying power. ...................
At the request of the RKBA group I will clarify that I'm not advocating some racist view. In 1963, as a northern white kid in rural South Carolina, someplace the civil rights movement had not come within 100 miles of as of that date, I witnessed bigotry of a violence and depravity and hatred that was totally unknown to me. Jim Crow was alive and well there at that time, and he was an ugly sight. In 1968 a young black guy my age who I worked with decided to join the Black Panthers. A few months later, he walked up to a cop sitting in a patrol car and executed him with a .38. It was a time when police relationships with the black community was very strained, and violence was done by both sides, but the cops had more guns. He is probably still in jail, but he made his point. And in that city, from that point, some movement was made by the police dept and the black community to try some outreach. 5 years later I was living in Detroit in the inner city, and woke up with a gun resting on my lips. 2 weeks later my black next door neighbor blew that gunman off a second story fire escape with a 12 gauge as he was trying to break in, he was caught full of birdshot hobbling with a broken foot 6 blocks away. 2 months later a junky nearly ran me over in my own driveway running through with a woman's purse. My neighbor was out the door with a 9 mm shooting at him as he ran, he dropped the purse to save his life. The purse contained a 72 year old woman's entire SSI payment, her food and heat for the next month. The one community that even today has more reason to be armed than most is the black community. And the possibility of the people they try to oppress with arms still scares right wingers of all stripes. The guy in the picture above is Malcolm X, who I happen to admire.
We find people who don't understand the how and why of the technical points of guns propose technical solutions which miss the technical mark. So hollow points bullets aren't necessarily designed to kill, but they are made to stay inside a body and not go flying off in unpredictable directions hitting bystanders. Large capacity magazines rarely work well in a handgun. The size and clumsiness of the second magazine gave bystanders time to tackle and subdue the Giffords shooter. By my own assessment most extended magazines for handguns are crap, I don't own any or need them.
Semi-automatic guns that shoot once per trigger pull are sometimes called 'automatics' especially pistols, but true fully automatic weapons - machine guns - have been under such strict control since 1934 that the number of verified homicides committed with legally owned machine guns in the US since is two, one by a police officer(http://openjurist.org/...) the other by a doctor (http://members.cox.net/...). Which is amazing considering there are 240,000 class III (many full automatic) weapons (1995 est.) in the US.
We continue to talk about our points because we believe that gun control support on the left is helping the right far more than than the left understands. With the tea bag® movement moving the Republicans farther to the right, the opportunity is in the middle and the left should have the 'big tent' covering it. We know for a certainty that many working class and rural people who should have good reason to support the Democratic party do not do so on this one point. The right wing is telling them 'they don't trust you enough to let you own a gun'. And most avid deer hunters, most farmers with coyotes and rabid raccoons, and every kid who grew up shooting a .22 thinks this over and pulls the handle for R. This brings us back to the anger and fear point, and for them, gun control angers them and makes them afraid. This personalizes the point for them - they are going to loose something they value if they vote D. Much more important than some abstract thing like health care, they've been propagandized that every government program doesn't work and expect nothing from it.
If they consist of 3% of the population we are going to loose every close election.