Gun Rights: Should you be allowed to own an RPG?
#1885
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Civilians were using semiautos for decades before it caught on in military use. The bolt action was the dominant military rifle design until after wwi. Militaries rejected semiauto handguns for decades in favor of revolvers due to reliability concerns. Oh right, all of the civilian technologies he listed are actually military technologies and vice versa.
#1887
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Civilians were using semiautos for decades before it caught on in military use. The bolt action was the dominant military rifle design until after wwi. Militaries rejected semiauto handguns for decades in favor of revolvers due to reliability concerns. Oh right, all of the civilian technologies he listed are actually military technologies and vice versa.
#1893
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Welcome to the new narrative...
In other words... "We support the 2A, BUT you don't need an AR15 to hunt deer or defend your family, and it doesn't fit in a nightstands, and the gov't has Apache helicopters you can't win against. but don't forget that at our core, we support the 2A and resoundingly reject the idea that we're anti-gun in any way... oh yeah, and the cops can continue to have anything they want."
Personally, I think the number of actual "assault rifles" in circulation is grossly underestimated (I just bought 4 more today because of sales). I see 15-20 million thrown around a lot... gut tells me it's probably double.
I'll also point out that other than an out-of-service Facebook page, the Falmouth Anti-Gun Coalition doesn't exist. I'm also sure it's just coincident that one Richard Duby in South Falmouth has a Subaru Outback registered in his name(didn't see that coming).
In any event... tiny little bites like this one aren't an accident. The bulk of all the money funding anti-gun groups comes from one guy... they have almost no grass-roots support at all. Every event I've ever been to has the same 5 or 6 people telling the same story with the same rhetoric and getting all the airtime in the local media. However, they are incredibly well-organized and have a VERY long-term strategy. In the meantime, the NRA is destroying itself from within.
In other words... "We support the 2A, BUT you don't need an AR15 to hunt deer or defend your family, and it doesn't fit in a nightstands, and the gov't has Apache helicopters you can't win against. but don't forget that at our core, we support the 2A and resoundingly reject the idea that we're anti-gun in any way... oh yeah, and the cops can continue to have anything they want."
Personally, I think the number of actual "assault rifles" in circulation is grossly underestimated (I just bought 4 more today because of sales). I see 15-20 million thrown around a lot... gut tells me it's probably double.
I'll also point out that other than an out-of-service Facebook page, the Falmouth Anti-Gun Coalition doesn't exist. I'm also sure it's just coincident that one Richard Duby in South Falmouth has a Subaru Outback registered in his name(didn't see that coming).
In any event... tiny little bites like this one aren't an accident. The bulk of all the money funding anti-gun groups comes from one guy... they have almost no grass-roots support at all. Every event I've ever been to has the same 5 or 6 people telling the same story with the same rhetoric and getting all the airtime in the local media. However, they are incredibly well-organized and have a VERY long-term strategy. In the meantime, the NRA is destroying itself from within.
#1894
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The whole first half* of the Bill of Rights is at grave risk at present. What distresses me most is that I assume the founders must have feared that it would come under attack by powers of government, either foreign or domestic, and not by We the People ourselves**.
* = A broad generalization. It might be fairer to day the whole thing, apart from the 3rd, is under extreme duress. But that doesn't roll off the tongue quite so easily.
** = Yes, I read you with regard to "the same 5 or 6 people telling the same story." But visit any major city, and take a random poll of the population under the age of 40, if you believe that those few voices have not become the leaders of the Choir of Public Opinion.
#1895
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Welcome to the new narrative...
In other words... "We support the 2A, BUT you don't need an AR15 to hunt deer or defend your family, and it doesn't fit in a nightstands, and the gov't has Apache helicopters you can't win against. but don't forget that at our core, we support the 2A and resoundingly reject the idea that we're anti-gun in any way... oh yeah, and the cops can continue to have anything they want."
Personally, I think the number of actual "assault rifles" in circulation is grossly underestimated (I just bought 4 more today because of sales). I see 15-20 million thrown around a lot... gut tells me it's probably double.
I'll also point out that other than an out-of-service Facebook page, the Falmouth Anti-Gun Coalition doesn't exist. I'm also sure it's just coincident that one Richard Duby in South Falmouth has a Subaru Outback registered in his name(didn't see that coming).
In any event... tiny little bites like this one aren't an accident. The bulk of all the money funding anti-gun groups comes from one guy... they have almost no grass-roots support at all. Every event I've ever been to has the same 5 or 6 people telling the same story with the same rhetoric and getting all the airtime in the local media. However, they are incredibly well-organized and have a VERY long-term strategy. In the meantime, the NRA is destroying itself from within.
In other words... "We support the 2A, BUT you don't need an AR15 to hunt deer or defend your family, and it doesn't fit in a nightstands, and the gov't has Apache helicopters you can't win against. but don't forget that at our core, we support the 2A and resoundingly reject the idea that we're anti-gun in any way... oh yeah, and the cops can continue to have anything they want."
Personally, I think the number of actual "assault rifles" in circulation is grossly underestimated (I just bought 4 more today because of sales). I see 15-20 million thrown around a lot... gut tells me it's probably double.
I'll also point out that other than an out-of-service Facebook page, the Falmouth Anti-Gun Coalition doesn't exist. I'm also sure it's just coincident that one Richard Duby in South Falmouth has a Subaru Outback registered in his name(didn't see that coming).
In any event... tiny little bites like this one aren't an accident. The bulk of all the money funding anti-gun groups comes from one guy... they have almost no grass-roots support at all. Every event I've ever been to has the same 5 or 6 people telling the same story with the same rhetoric and getting all the airtime in the local media. However, they are incredibly well-organized and have a VERY long-term strategy. In the meantime, the NRA is destroying itself from within.
rofl read this:
https://www.vox.com/first-person/201...pc9D1l00nm3oI4
I’m a left-wing anarchist. Guns aren’t just for right-wingers.
The long, forgotten history of pro-gun left-wing groups.
#1896
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I tend to look at political preferences as a 2x2 grid. On the X axis you have the spectrum of government involvement (libertarian --> authoritarian), on the Y axis you have the spectrum of social preferences (conservative --> liberal). You could even make it a 2x2x2 grid and add a Z axis of economic preferences (capitalist --> socialist).
What we get in the media, and thus from our politicians, is libertarian/conservative/capitalist vs. authoritarian/liberal/socialist. This is bullshit, because I think most thoughtful people don't fall neatly into those groups. I myself lean libertarian/liberal/capitalist. So on the subject of guns, I tend to agree with the guy that wrote that article. I think citizens in good standing should have the right to own guns at will. I think there should be sensible gun laws and effective enforcement of those laws. I think gun owners an manufacturers should be exposed to liability from their choices. I think there are certain weapons that are too destructive and should be off-limits to private citizens, but that boundary should be defined by rational evidence and not mob hysteria (a.k.a. ban AR-15's).
The "liberals want to ban all guns" narrative is as reductive as the "white racists want to kill our kids with bazookas" narrative.
#1897
Boost Pope
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* = and it actually works both ways. If you're appealing to a right-leaning audience, you say "If we allow [candidate x] to be elected, [he / she] will take away your guns!" whereas if you are appealing to a left-leaning audience, you say "If we allow [candidate y] to be elected, then ruthless killers like the one at [name of most recent mass-shooting] will continue to have access to guns!"
It takes time and effort to process complicated ideas, which is why Binary extremism is so popular. For instance, your hypothetical three-axis grid does not account for cat-ownership. Would you not agree that "cat-liking" vs. "cat-hating" is a vastly more important metric than "capitalism" vs. "socialism?"
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I'd posit that the majority of voters in the US are motivated more by fear than by idealism. It's less about the good things that will happen if your candidate is elected than about the bad, scary things that will happen if the other candidate wins. And that makes perfect sense, from a completely objective point of view. It's easy to make people hateful and afraid- all you have to do is avoid subtlety and nuance. If everything is a strictly binary problem, then opinions and emotions will naturally drift towards the extreme.
Now, granted, appealing to extremes obviously overlooks some voters. People like Kim Kelly, the gun-totin' left-wing anarchist. But then, if you've actually gone to the trouble of formulating a sociopolitical ideology which does not neatly conform to one of a few simple stereotypes, then you're probably not the sort of person who is going to immediately fall into line behind whoever is carrying the "correct" flag at the next general election anyway. People who think critically about important issues simply don't matter from the point of view of campaign managers, for the same reason that people who appear open-minded and intelligent are kryptonite to trial lawyers during jury selection. They're just too damn unpredictable.
#1899
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Just a couple take-aways.
FOX News in no way pushes "a narrative" of liberals hating guns... the vast majority of liberal politicians are outright and vocallly hostile towards gun and gun owners, and encourage gun-hating in their constituency. Among the 2020 Democratic Candidates, it's an actual race to the bottom to see who's supporters actually hate guns more. FOX doesn't have to "push" anything.
The "gun-liking" extreme far left is a miniscule fraction of all liberals and it's a huge stretch to say "...but some liberals like guns" when speaking about those individuals and thinking it will ever count politically.
It's also dead wrong to say your every-day Constitution loving Republican doesn't want anarchists or liberals of whatever flavor to have guns... that's total bullshit. We can all agree to disagree in America. I do believe that "win stupid games, get stupid prizes" is completely lost on people who go to political rallies of far leaning groups on either side.
FOX News in no way pushes "a narrative" of liberals hating guns... the vast majority of liberal politicians are outright and vocallly hostile towards gun and gun owners, and encourage gun-hating in their constituency. Among the 2020 Democratic Candidates, it's an actual race to the bottom to see who's supporters actually hate guns more. FOX doesn't have to "push" anything.
The "gun-liking" extreme far left is a miniscule fraction of all liberals and it's a huge stretch to say "...but some liberals like guns" when speaking about those individuals and thinking it will ever count politically.
It's also dead wrong to say your every-day Constitution loving Republican doesn't want anarchists or liberals of whatever flavor to have guns... that's total bullshit. We can all agree to disagree in America. I do believe that "win stupid games, get stupid prizes" is completely lost on people who go to political rallies of far leaning groups on either side.
#1900
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