I'll come right out and say it: I love guns. That's right. This liberal is a gun lover. I have eighteen guns and would never sell a single one of them. These aren't for hunting either. I've never been able to kill animals, especially ones incapable of doing me any real harm. Seriously, how many people are gored to death by deer every year? Anyone ever had their eyes pecked out by a duck? Nope, every single one of my guns was designed for the destruction of human personnel.
Now that I've admitted my personal love for these death-dealing machines, I will tell you of a strange discovery. At the tail end of December I was at my grandmother's in Mississippi. I was in her guest bedroom thumbing through an October 2004 issue of American Hunter when I ran across an editorial by Wayne LaPierre. In case you've never heard of Wayne LaPierre, he's the CEO of the National Rifle Association, the NRA. The overall point of his piece was that if John Kerry became President an army of liberals would come to your home, kill your parents, eat your children, sell your wife to the Iranians, and . . . TAKE AWAY YOUR GUNS!!! Okay it wasn't quite that dramatic, but he was sure that the anti-gun forces out there were hell-bent on reducing your private arsenals to nothing more than a Swiss Army Knife and a slingshot once Kerry got into office.
Deeper in the magazine, I found an interview with Ted Nugent. In the interview, Nugent said that only when an American had the right to carry a concealed firearm anywhere he or she wanted would the 2nd Amendment be what the founding fathers originally envisioned.
Wow, that's a pretty unique take on our 2nd Amendment. I really don't like the Ted Nugent idea of everyone carrying a concealed weapon. Actually I'm surprised he stopped at that. Why not let everyone carry weapons unconcealed? Go to work with an AN-94 on your back, an FN P-90 on your belly, and a Glock 17L on your hip. I like the Old West as much as the next person.
I asked my Dad later as I laid out the things I'd read in the magazine: "You're in the NRA yourself, do you really believe all of the things they're saying?"
He then explained to me that he'd only recently rejoined the NRA because he had been tired of hysterical scare tactics they employed. He told me that of course he didn't believe all of the things that were said, but that the NRA did believe in the "slippery slope" theory of gun control. In other words, they argue that if they give an inch, the antigun forces will take a mile. Let them ban your AK-47, and next thing you know they're banning your hunting rifle.
Does the NRA really believe this, or does it simply underestimate the intelligence of its members? I know that all gun fans were excited when the assault weapons ban was lifted, but the thing is that the assault weapons ban did what it was designed to do. It cut the level of guns used in violent crime from 12% of the time in 1993 to 9% of the time in 2001. Now that the ban is gone that level is on the rise. The NRA was at the front of the crowd of people happy that the ban was gone.
They are also against the practice of "fingerprinting" gun barrels. That's a procedure where the gun's manufacturer takes an imprint of the inside of the gun's barrel and files it with the proper federal and state authorities. This way, should someone be killed by gunshot, the bullet can be extracted from the corpse and the barrel imprint on it examined. At that point, it is a simple few clicks on the keyboard until a federal or local officer can identify the weapon the bullet came from and its owner. The NRA claims that this is intrusive of our right to privacy. I have to admit that should I shoot someone, I don't wish to be caught either.
I like owning my guns but I'm for reasonable gun control as well. I'm also for laws that would help make it easier to bring those who would use them illegally to justice. Frankly, I say ban all guns that are unreliable and poorly made, and you'd see a lot less guns out there- but at least you'd only find ones worth your money.
To conclude: we need to stand up to the fear mongerers on both sides of the political arena and tell them we're not as dumb as they seem to think. The NRA and countless other special-interest groups will never cease the howl about their issues unless we stop sending them money. Teach them the lesson the XFL learned the hard way: you can lose money if you underestimating the intelligence of the American people. Make any political organization you care about understand that while their issues concern you they can't frighten you into making reactionary decisions. The government doesn't want your guns; right now, it's too busy trying to intimidate gays and Muslim immigrants.