"Guns don't kill people. People kill people."

[appal_jack]

21. Regarding the new, & the effective.

Prior to the 1930's, the Federal government did not take an active role in RKBA issues. What is even newer than the "belief that the second amendment deals with personal gun ownership outside of militia service" is the Democratic Party's embrace of gun control. Before the 1960's, gun control was pretty much the province of segregationists and racists of either party. Indeed, I contend that Reagan's CA gun control efforts were primarily racist in intent, &, obviously, Republican-led.

I think that we can agree that the tragic assassinations of JFK, MLK, RFK, Harvey Milk, etc. of those times (too many to name) deserved a response, as do the violent tragedies that have happened in the US since. Given that many of these early tragedies happened with bolt action rifles and revolvers, I do not feel that progress was or will be made via hardware restrictions. I believe that a re-prioritization of law enforcement efforts (away from all victimless crimes & toward stopping violence), and targeted programs to alleviate poverty and improve mental health services are the way to go.

Since the late 1960's and the Democratic Party's embrace of gun control, Democrats have almost only won the Presidency when guns were not a big part of the national conversation. Clinton's 1996 victory (post 1994 AWB) is a notable exception, but his second term was hardly inspiring or exemplary on any front. Gun control issues did play a significant role in the defeats of Dukakis, Gore, and Kerry, unfortunately. How many more elections are worth losing over this?

-app