General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: How (not) to convince people to support gun control. [View all]billh58
(6,635 posts)NRA-promoted myth masquerading as an honest appeal for understanding and kumbaya.
This OP assumes that ALL gun owners are represented by the gun nuts who inhabit DU and the NRA. They are not. American gun owners are just as divided along political, philosophical, religious, and ethnic lines as ALL Americans are, and a sizable percentage of them support some forms of gun regulation.
The reason that the USA is up to its ass in guns, is because the NRA surreptitiously bought and paid for politicians at all levels of our government over the years, and pushed through insane gun laws which allowed the unfettered proliferation of guns in this country. Their motives were not the "preservation of the Second Amendment" but the preservation of the profit margins of their gun manufacturer sponsors and masters. The mindset that we now need to be "nice" to the NRA and its apologists in order to restore some semblance of sanity to our gun violence problem, is a red herring.
The right-wing NRA and its supporters (mainly Republicans and Libertarians) will not allow ANY changes willingly, even if we kiss their putrid white asses at noon on Main Street. The only way that we can secure meaningful change, is to appeal to the moderate segments of the voters, and to fight the anti-American NRA, and its backers, at every opportunity.
This is not about "statistics," and the interpretation of the Second Amendment, and has nothing to do with confiscating all guns. It is about getting guns off of our streets, and regulating the sale and transfer of guns. It is about making gun owners accountable and responsible. It is about common sense and decency. It is about preventing needless injury and death from lethal weapons.