What these poll results show is that the coalitional politics of gun control is more complex than you might think after LaPierre’s speech. This is not a world with gun owners on one side and those who do not own guns on the other.
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Gun owners do not speak with one voice about gun control, and, for many gun owners, Wayne LaPierre does not appear to speak for them.
Everyone should be able to handle a firearm, check if it’s loaded, and unload it. The chance you’ll be handed a gun and told “cover me” like in the movies is next to nil, but the chance you’ll run across a gun as a houseguest or an employee is not.
But some liberals own firearms and defend gun rights for more political reasons—ones that are vaguely reminiscent of the left-wing cause that, in an oft-forgotten twist of modern American history, spearheaded the modern gun rights movement: The Black Panther Party’s opposition to gun control, and its belief in firearms as a measure of protection against the police.
Coverage of the Newtown tragedy and its aftermath has been generally abysmal. In fact, I have never seen the “liberal media” conform to right-wing caricatures of itself with such alacrity. I have read articles in which literally everything said about firearms and ballistics has been wrong. I have heard major newscasters mispronounce the names of every weapon and weapons manufacturer more challenging than “Colt.” I can only imagine the mirth it has brought gun-rights zealots to see “automatic” and “semi-automatic” routinely confused, or to hear a major news anchor ominously declare that the shooter had been armed with a “Sig Sauzer” pistol. This has been more than embarrassing. It has offered a thousand points of proof that “liberal elites” don’t know anything about what matters when bullets start flying.
It’s not easy being a leftist who loves guns. It’s like being a Republican who listens to NPR or supports single payer health care. But being a leftist, I get exposed to all the liberal publications and media that invariably call for gun control every time someone does something stupid with one. Being a gun enthusiast, I also get exposed to the political Right’s oversimplification of those liberals as somehow lacking moral fiber or true appreciation of freedom. Rather than agreeing with both, I tend to end up arguing with both. It’s exhausting to always feel like I’m apologizing for the other “side”.
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So in order to get around to why the assault weapons ban was an utter and absolute failure in its attempt to deter violent crime, I have to start with mass shootings.
Why Not Renew the “Assault Weapons” Ban? Well, I’ll Tell You…
* Seriously, if you only read on post about the upcoming proposed assault weapons ban it should be this one. It’s the most level headed and un-frantic/emotional explanation I’ve ever seen.
“You can pass all the gun legislation you want. None of it will make me feel any more or less safe than I do right at this moment. The murder of my friend taught me that America is a 50-state-wide killing field. None of that red state/blue state bullshit means a damn thing to me. As soon as I leave my house, I am on the kill grid…
…I am neither pro- nor anti-gun. I am gun-conscious. I live in America. I know I can get taken out, almost any time, anywhere.”
This is a rather long read, but very well thought out. I haven’t made it all the way through myself yet but wanted to pass it on before I forgot.
