In North Carolina, a civilized gun debate fails to change minds
Posted by Mary C. Curtis on February 21, 2013 at 3:06 pm
... The Tuesday night conversation was one in a series on hot topics sponsored by Charlotte NPR affiliate WFAE, with gun shop owner Larry Hyatt and U.S. Rep. Mel Watt, a Democrat who represents the state’s 12th Congressional District, sharing a stage ...
Watt said he was looking for solutions and willing to listen, rejecting the expectations of those who came expecting to find ‘a left-wing gun control person,’ ” he said. “I’m trying to find a solution to gun violence.” After Newton, Tucson and Aurora, Colo., made it a national issue, he said, “do nothing” is not an appropriate response ...
David Baucom drew laughs when he prefaced his defense of gun owners’ rights by describing himself as a pro-choice, pro-gay vegan who “loves San Francisco and Paris.” The former business owner summed up his position this way: “The real gun control we need is this: getting control of the biggest gun on the table — the government’s gun — which is being used ever more to violate individual liberty, the recent encroachments on the Second Amendment just being one example.”
He was countered by a “Southern, white male” – that’s how he put it when it was his turn at the microphone – who said he was a fan of football, beer, pizza and bourbon and was “furious with the NRA” ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2013/02/21/in-north-carolina-a-civilized-gun-debate-fails-to-change-minds/
