At least, according to my highly unscientific poll conducted just last night.
How did this come to be? Why are Kossacks (and every other progressive internet forum I can find) so far out of the mainstream?
My suspicion is because we're more involved, more informed, and have come to the realization that "gun control" is ineffective, bad for America, bad for progressive causes, and bad for the Democratic party.
Follow me beyond the fold and I'll explain...
We don't like gun control because it's not rational.
Guns are dangerous. Y'all need to make them illegal or sumpthin'
Let's face it: Guns are everywhere. You can no more legislate them out of existence than a ban on gay marriage can eradicate homosexuality. As long as they're going to be around we need an effective, thoughtful approach to mitigating their worst side-effects.
The criminals wouldn't be affected by a nationwide gun ban because they aren't inclined to follow the law. Gun control measures have a net effect of ensuring that we (the law-abiding citizens of the United States) are unarmed, not them.
We often target certain classes of weapons not because they pose a legitemate threat to us and our loved ones, but rather because they are scary looking.
These include:
-"assault weapons" A term without a clear meaning that most people seem to think apply only to full-auto military grade weapons. Not the truth.
These weapons (not illegal, BTW) are regulated under NFA '34.
-.50 caliber rifles Which are touted as a "terrorist weapon" despite the fact that 1) terrorists have never employed them 2) they can't really "shoot down airliners" and 3) (to the best of my knowledge) no American citizens have ever been killed with one.
-"Saturday night specials", a term that denotes inexpensive handguns in general and those lacking certain safety features in particular. While the price constraints are irresponsible IMO (ensuring that the poor are unarmed) I don't think this is necessarily such a bad idea. firing pin blocks, disconnectors, etc. help reduce deaths and injuries resulting from accidental discharges. Of course, not as much as responsible gun ownership, but still...
-Handguns Handguns are the #1 firearm of choice for...pretty much everybody. The police, the criminals, and the law-abiding citizens. When they are banned, only one of these 3 groups is affected. The result of this policy is evident in Washington, D.C.; where the handgun ban of '75 succeeded in creating the handgun murder capital of the world.
-Black talon bullets This one is amusing because it's now freely available under another name. Not only are they incapable of penetrating bullet-proof vests, but the measures to restrict the use of this type of ammunition have served to increase gun-related deaths in the affected areas! How? Well, by making expanding hollow point bullets illegal and forcing people to use FMJ instead, it now requires making many more holes in somebody to get the same "stopping" effect. They bleed to death much more often. As a side "bonus" the legal ammunition is much more effective in penetrating barriers (such as kevlar) than the old stuff. Heh.
We also tend to legislate measures that are either ineffective or counter-productive because we ignore the laws of physics, human psychology, or practical constraints.
Examples:
-The Brady Handgun act*. While the waiting period is essentially a good idea, the background check doesn't keep guns out of the hands of criminals because criminals don't buy their guns from legitemate dealers. Nevertheless, this measure is relatively benign so long as the information isn't used to compile a database. A database would be bad because
-Gun Registration: For some reason, we feel comforted by the knowledge that the Federal government has a list of exactly who has guns and who doesn't.
"Tell me how many guns you have" NOT comforting.
Also worth noting that gun registration has had no success is tracing firearms to criminals. This may come as a shock to you, but honestly...how could it if they don't use registered firearms?
-gun free zones: Every massacre carried out since it's implementation has occured in one of these. Prior to 1990, how often did this sort of thing occur? This proves that #1 merely making an activity illegal won't stop it from happening and #2 mass murder is much easier to pull off when there's nobody around capable of stopping you.
-registering ammunition: Nobody seems to care that this is impossible to make work because 1)criminals have access to unregistered ammunition and 2) bullets wouldn't retain a serial number after firing.
Yes, indeedy...completely irrational and unproductive.
We don't like gun control because it's bad for progressive causes.
"We've got guns. You don't."
We believe in the idea of racial equality, yet time and time again we seek to enact measures that keep minorities from having equal access to the means to defend themselves.
"Thanks for disarming the ni**ers"
We believe in the idea of sexual equality, yet time and time again we seek to deny women the means to defend themselves.
" No means no."
We believe in the idea of gay rights, yet seek to deny them the means to protect themselves.
Brutally murdered for being gay. A gun might've helped.
We loudly rail against the excesses of a fascist government, yet seek to ensure that we have no means to defend ourselves from them.
coming soon to a representative republic near you
Now this is not to say that owning a gun will make you safer. It is to say that rapists think twice before attacking women who may or may not be carrying a .357. So it goes with all other progressive issues.
Gun control is bad for America
What we have discovered over the course of the last six years is that our government will do whatever they wish if they don't have a healthy fear of their own constituents.
"Toldja so!
How can we hope to enforce our rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights while simultaneously seeking to destroy our means to guarantee them? If we ever got to the point where the government was the only entity to possess firearms, how would we keep America free?
And while we're on the subject, let's not forget that most gun control measures are ILLEGAL because they violate the Constitution.
We have grown to realize the pitfall inherent in allowing the government to break it's own laws "for the greater good". Before we can start banning firearms or restricting access to them, we must repeal the 2nd Amdt.
As a result of our unwillingness to follow the law,
Gun control is bad for the Democratic party
I know. I hang out with the shooting community. Contrary to popular belief, the gun community isn't just a bunch of NASCAR watchin' religious gun-totin' rednecks. Take another look at the poll results. The gun community is us!
There are millions of Americans who would gladly vote Dem if it wasn't for this gun control policy, but they can't do it because they value their right to keep and bear arms too much to let the Dem party take it away. I am guilty of this as are others who have commented online (including this very forum).
If the progressive community were to ditch their wayward fascination with this policy, Republicans couldn't get elected dogcatcher.
So there you have it.
DailyKos is a community within which the beliefs of the majority aren't being reflected by the party we belong to. More and more we are starting to realize that
Gun control is