General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why we lost the gun debate in the Senate, and why we'll keep losing it. [View all]BethanyQuartz
(193 posts)Many assumed that all those of us who are opposed to more gun regulation or are just not interested in the debate are automatically Republican gun owners and nuts. Not true. You (collectively not you personally) alienated us from the get go with that assumption.
Honestly I have never considered rounding up every firearm in the United States a likely event or one that would have the desired outcome without consequences that create a worse outcome. I also see other issues in our country as far more urgent and to be honest my own anti-gun controls stance is therefore the default stance of someone who mistrusts our government, does not believe it can or will protect me, and who was raised in a culture fed stories about governments rounding up private firearms right before they brought their jackboots out. I also enjoy target shooting although I don't at present even own a gun.
Now if I thought this issue worthy of hours of discussion and contemplation every week in place of the other issues I see as more urgent you might be able to eventually win me to your side with sound logic and facts. I would certainly give up the right to go target shooting if I knew it would save countless lives. But because the real issue isn't legislation, it's how to round up the illegal guns after they are criminalized, and since such extreme measures are unlikely I'm unconvinced more gun regulations will save lives. It might cause suicidal people to get more creative and it might mean negligent parents will kill their kids in other ways, but I don't think it will stop shootings related to crime.
Anyway, in the end, it's just not my #1 concern or even in the top ten. And I suspect that a lot of Americans are the same way. Furthermore (and probably the real reason you aren't getting what you want) is that the decision makers don't see any benefit to irritating gun owners. There is no profit in it, they aren't afraid of armed revolution (and if they were they'd be even more afraid to stop one by actually rounding up the guns instead of just passing laws about them), and so nothing much will change.