IMHO an interesting and well written article from the NYT

[krispos42]

8. Oh, the NRA fearmongering is historically based on Democratic actions against guns

It was California that kicked off the concept of "assault weapons" with their ban in, I believe, 1989. It created the concept of "assault" weapons: guns that were somehow too dangerous to be legal to own. New Jersey and Connecticut followed, then the Federal Government in 1993.

Gun-control people, predominately Democrats, tried to make it a winning issue, part of being "tough on crime" but in a different way than "lock-em-up-forever" Republicans.

We've been living with it wounding us ever since. The NRA and similar may be hyping it, but just check out any "fuck the NRA" thread in GD and you'll find it very common for the vast majority of posters to support most or all of the following, singly or in multiple combinations:

• Reinstating the Federal AWB
  
• Expanding the Federal AWB
  
• Repealing the Second Amendment
  
• Turning gun ownership from a right into a privilege
  
• Banning all semi-automatic rifles
  
• Banning all semi-automatic handguns
  
• Banning all handguns
  
• Banning all repeating long guns (lever, bolt, pump)
  
• Requiring universal registration of all guns
  
• Requiring all privately owned guns to be stored under lock and key at the police station
  
• Requiring all privately owned guns to be stored under lock and key at a licensed shooting club
  
• Requiring extensive background checks that include interviewing friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers to determine if an applicant will be allowed to own a gun
  
• Requiring an applicant to demonstrate "good cause" to own a gun (and usually "self defense/personal protection" is not good cause)
  
• Registering ammunition and cartridge components (may include outlawing handloading of ammunition)
  
• Limiting sales of ammunition
  
• Limiting amounts of ammunition allowed to be possessed by a gun owner
  
• Limiting number of guns owned by a gun owner
  
• Requiring ammunition to be stored with the gun at the police station or licensed shooting club
  
• Requiring microstamping technology to stamp the gun's serial number on each cartridge as it is being fired (see: universal gun registration)
  
• Requiring bullets to have lot numbers stamped on them (on the base) so recovered bullets could be traced to the owner (see: ammunition registration)
  
• Mandating smart-gun technology so the gun only fired for its registered owner
  
• Raising the age to buy a long gun to 21 (it's already 21 for handguns)
  
• Waiting periods (generally, 3 to 14 days)
  
• Registration of detachable magazines
  
• Limiting ownership of detachable magazines
  
• Magazine-capacity limits (typically at 10 rounds)
  
• Banning detachable magazines entirely
  
• Banning guns that accept detachable magazines
  
• Outlawing concealed carry
  
• Outlawing open carry

I think that's a comprehensive list.

A lot of these are being proposed by the student activists, well-known Americans (pundits, media personalities, etc.), and a lot of Democratic lawmakers. So the NRA, at least since the tragedy in Florida, doesn't have to do much except play the media sound bites and video clips. "They're coming for your guns. Here they are in their own words."

Of course there is a long history of the NRA acting like giant racist assholes just in general, but the fear that Democrats will actually be able to get what they want done a) drives gun sales and b) drives gun-owners to the polls.



Look, either the threat of new and stringent gun laws is real, at which point their reaction (buying guns, donating time and money to pro-gun groups & individuals) is reasonable, or the threat is just a dream, at which you're admitting that the Democrats don't have the power to put actions behind their words. And then when gun owners take Democratic threats seriously, they get called paranoid. Which is another way of stating that it's all just talk and "I can't believe they believe what I said in all seriousness!".

We've moved beyond a discussion of gun-control. We can't rationally and reasonably discuss the myriad causes of violence (some of which is done through use of firearms), we can't discuss what an "assault weapon" is, we can't discuss the merits and effectiveness of various gun regulation ideas. All we can have now is a screaming match that's long on emotion and short on facts.