Good Morning, I am James, AKA exlrrp here on dKos.
Ive been a liberal all my life, there was never a time when I didn't take an over all liberal view of things. I have voted Democrat every election---every election since McGovern. I'm saying liberal here in the classic sense: I think all people on this earth have a basic right to food, shelter, basic medical care. I think there's enough foood on this earth to feed everyone, its only the way the government's are set up that keeps it from happeneing.
I came to political awareness during the early 60s, the time of civil rights. I went to my first protests in Sproul Plaza, UC Berkeley when it was about civil rights. (I was born and grew up in and around Berkeley)
more below the fold and under the boilerplate statement
"...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. RKBA stands for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms...."
I grew up in a single mother family and my mom didn't like guns. My first real exposure to guns was in the US Army, which I joined for liberal reasons---to try and save the world. To me it was about trying to bring rights to a beleaguered country. It wasn't my fault this turned out not to be so but it was my basic motivation.
It was in the Army in Vietnam where I developed my attitude towards guns---basically theyre a tool, like a Skilsaw, that you use when you need it, keep it maintained and handy to use. Ive blogged about my military service
here, and my 2d tour of Vietnam, 2003, here so I needn't go into that too much here. The picture below shows me with a silenced Sten, which I did use upon occasion.
I was basically a grunt in the thick of it. I did use guns to shoot people (also mines, artilllery, air support, etc)to where it became routine...to where I got sick of it. I went to war thinking we'd win and I left knowing we'd lose. I protested the war (back in Sproul Plaza) when I got out of the army.
I walked away from guns for quite some time after that. I didn't think I needed one and that was true....untill New Years morning, 1984 when someone smashed his way into my house at 4:00 in the morning. I had to get out of bed naked and deal with it. I grabbed him, picked him up and threw the door, threw on a pair of pants, grabbed my baseballl bat and gave him some serious wacks upside the head. Amazing what you can do when you're chock full of adrenaline.
I came out of that bedroom with one thought in my mind: I'd give body parts for a .45 in my hand right now.I realized with a blinding flash what I remembered from the war so well: You never outgrow your need for ammo. I went out and bought a gun that day and have had one by my bedside ever since.
Nowadays I carry a gun when I think I need it. I'm a retired bldg contractor/inspector. I used to do home inspections for $400 apiece in the SF Bay Area in the good old days of the housing bubble. This would take me into every kind of neighborhood and sometimes I carried a gun. NOBODY keeps me from making 400 honest dollars for a few hours work. I had to display it twice when threatened.. Illegal true, but its easier to get out of jail than get out of a graveyard. You have to kill SEVERAL people in California before you do serious jail time.
I live in Oregon now where the gun laws are more relaxed and we have quite a lower gun and violence rate than other states that are more restrictive like NY and CA. I dunno, maybe its the cheese. I think the Oregon laws are just about right
I believe in the 2d amendment. I think its an individual right, in a list of other individual rights. I think the Founding Fathers put it 2d because they thought it was important. If you don't like it, change it (Good luck!) but for now its the law of the land.
And I think the 2d amendment IS the liberal position. I think that a government that trusts its people to carry guns is a liberal government in the clasic sense---that people have the right to their own self determination and their own self defense.
I don't carry a gun most of the time...hardly any of the time. My life now is all about retirement: golf, skiing, home repair. But the times when I think I may need it, I carry it---I said the jail/graveyard thing, didn't I? I'm not near as young as I was when I threw that guy out the door and i have shoulder problems.
I live in rural OR,a mile from my nearest neighbor where I can just walk out my door and take target pracice on my front porch if I want to. I enjoy target practice with all my guns. The other day, someone was shooting a rifle up behind my home, too close. No need for cops or the sheriff, I just went outside and blasted off a couple of magazines of .45 to let him know there was somebody up there with a gun. He went away.
Worked again!!