Crossposted from Hillbilly Report.
Being a life-long Progressive Democrat in a mostly rural Congressional district in Western Kentucky one thing that I have heard over and over my whole life is that if a Democrat is elected that person will immediately use jack-booted thugs to "take your guns". Now, aside from the fact that I know a few people that it makes me very nervous that they have a concealed firearm liscense, I would really like someone to tell me just how in the hell a Democrat is office has ever caused just about anyone to lose their guns.
I mean, Obama is made out as some great Socialist dictator with a Hitler mustache that is hell-bent on creating the Fourth Reich. He is supposedly going to come and rob you of your guns and your hope to be able to defend yourself against his attempt to create a one-world government with himself as god-king/dictator.
Ah, but as always with a true right-wing looney tune the truth is always something very different that the twisted, greedy little world in which they live in. You see, far from Barack Obama or any Democrat trying to take anyone's gun with them in control of our government more guns than ever are being sold:
When President Obama took office, gun rights advocates sounded the alarm, warning that he intended to strip them of their arms and ammunition.
And yet the opposite is happening. Mr. Obama has been largely silent on the issue while states are engaged in a new and largely successful push for expanded gun rights, even passing measures that have been rejected in the past.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Yes, after seeing the lunacy of some of those tea-bag protesters it really makes me feel good to know that they are trotting around packing heat. They have so many reasons to be concerned that they will not be able to stop on the side of the road and shoot a wayward wolf. I mean, some of the measures that gun-control advocates are pushing are just so radical they are unacceptable to John Q. Teabagger:
Gun control advocates have had some successes recently, Mr. Helmke said. Proposed bills to allow students to carry guns on college campuses have been blocked in the 20 or so states where they have been proposed since the Virginia Tech shootings. Last year, New Jersey limited gun purchases to one a month, a law similar to the one Virginia may revoke.
Yes, the typical tea-bagger has such a sound argument to make about President Obama charging into their homes and taking away their guns in the middle of the night:
In the meantime, gun control advocates say, Mr. Obama has failed to deliver on campaign promises to close a loophole that allows unlicensed dealers at gun shows to sell firearms without background checks; to revive the assault weapons ban; and to push states to release data about guns used in crimes.
He also signed bills last year allowing guns to be carried in national parks and in luggage on Amtrak trains.
I mean, lets think about some of these things rationally for once. The same thing was said about Bill Clinton when he was in office, and that seemed to spring from the passage of the Brady Bill. Now, personally I think that the Brady Bill was just simple common-sense that attempted to keep guns away from criminals whose sole intent was to commit crime with them.
While Americans have a right to own and bear arms, other Americans also have the right to be protected from the irresponsibility and intentional criminal activity that those who carry guns perpetrate. Whether you live in the city, country or Outer Mongolia some common-sense measures can be followed.
If you want to own a gun it seems very reasonable to me that you should have to prove your identity and be submitted to a background check to insure that you are not a violent criminal. If you really wanted a gun, it seems you could wait a week for that to be done. I personally feel it is very dangerous to have guns sold at these shows without background checks and by unliscensed dealers. To oppose measures to stop that to me is not being a "good American" it is being an idiot.
Gun-control should be one issue that Americans of all political stripes should be able to find common ground on. We should all want those who will responsibly own firearms to have them, but we should also all want to keep the illegal gun that kills the innocent nine year old in a drive-by shooting in any of many big cities to be kept off the market.
I really think it is a very bad thing that so many guns are being stockpiled in this country right now. I do not believe in abolishing the second amendment at all, but I believe that gun advocates should realize that some measures to control the flow of guns that end up in illegal trade and are ultimately used for crimes is better for our country as a whole. If you have to drive a little further or wait a few days to pick your Uzi up it is not hurting my feelings one bit, and might actually allow an innocent life somewhere else to be saved.
Lets hope our country and folks of all political colors can get past the paranoia and finally approach this subject with some sanity. Unfortunately thusfar even with Democrats in power our country shows little will to do so.