This recent cover story in the Christian Science Monitor on gun owners is absolutely fantastic. It's an extensive look at the inside of America's gun culture. People that own guns are not what they seem to be.
A 30-something suburban aerospace engineer with studs in both ears, a fashionable haircut, and business-casual attire, Brinley says his right to buy and shoot AR-15s should never be curtailed, as bills in Congress now propose.
But,by the same token, he acknowledges there are fundamental problems with America's gun regulation system, citing holes in the background-check process and cross checks with mental-health records. That puts him at odds with the NRA's stated positions.
"OK, it's ridiculous to ban 10, 20, or 30-round magazines, but I'm not really sure who really needs a 100-round magazine," he says about a proposal to limit purchases of 10-round magazines.
Finally. This is a great example of what I mean when I say that Sandy Hook has changed this country. Further...
Yet other polls find vast common ground on gun control among those demographic divides. Last year, a poll by GOP pollster Frank Luntz found that 74 percent of NRA members supported more comprehensive background checks for gun purchasers – a reform that University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato says is the most likely to become law.
After what happened in Newtown, Melvin Clark Jr., a National Guard veteran and gun instructor in Boston, finds himself slipping a bit into that divide. An NRA member, he still turns to the Constitution as his ultimate guide.
"A lot of people make the argument that our Framers ... could not have imagined the advancements in firearms, and I agree. They were brilliant, but they could not see the future," says Mr. Clark. "But if you were to ask them if Americans should be armed as well as any British soldier, what might they say?"
Perhaps it's time I rethought my views on gun rights people:)
1 comment:
People that own guns are not what they seem to be.
I always enjoy hearing someone tell me who I am and what I am about. Of course this article would resonate with you M - that is exactly what you love to do.
"They were brilliant, but they could not see the future"
And brilliantly enough - they gave us a mechanism to change the Constitution for just such unforeseeable circumstances. Why then aren't you supporting an amendment to repeal the RKBA?
Race complicates the debate, starting with research showing that the Madisonian roots of the Second Amendment sprang from racial fears, or at least from fears of slave revolts.
Says one third-rate historian, here repeated as though all support this contention. That isn't even shaded - it is a terribly obvious distortion.
"It's your guns," Obama said at a campaign stop in 2008. "We're not going to mess with them, all right? I hope I made that clear. Is everybody clear back there in the back? Because I see a couple sportsmen back there. All right? Spread the word with your friends. I'm not going to take away your guns."
Never mind what Obama said about "bitter clingers" - you Fudds just listen to my soothing words and trusssssssst me.
And speaking of grinding axes... that can turn a friendly semiautomatic rifle into a savage bullet-sprayer.
Oh no, Mr. Objective Journalist, you aren't obvious at all.
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