Shooting at Las Vegas casino

Aaaand @Dick Whitman, I think we might have part of an answer to some of the questions you've posed re: this topic.

 

I think that I'd chart well on the liberal side of the graph, certainly on civil rights, LGBT, labor issues, taxation (within limits), and more. The Republicans in Congress were bad under GWB, became pretty much completely disgusting under Obama, and are completely supine with Trump in office. I'm more conservative on defense, intelligence, and in some other places which might surprise you.

Guns... I grew up with them. I'm comfortable with private ownership. I think open carry is idiotic, and open carry in bars and damn near any carry in schools is drooling idiocy. I would support banning high capacity magazines, even knowing that there are millions of them out there which will not go away. Banning semi-auto rifles I think is overreach, although I understand the rationale. If it happened I'd live through it. Another assault weapon ban would have the same problem that the first one had - defining what is and is not an assault weapon, because much of it was banning guns that looked all military and scary while leaving weapons with virtually identical capability legal. There are many in the public's hands already and attempting to take them away will validate every "The gubmint wants to take our guns!" nutcase out there. The NRA's membership and money would triple. And that's just a quick surface scan. Think about the elections in the aftermath in states which are not pure blue for example. There are plenty of people out there who trend liberal who would still object to a wide ranging gun ban.

I read some of the comments here and roll my eyes and think, "You're some urbanite who never even held a rifle, and you don't have a clue what life is like outside of your bubble." Fair or not, I absolutely thought it, several times. In fairness, I'm sure many of my comments were read by people who thought I was some redneck barbarian who didn't care about human life.

I live in Birmingham, Al. and there is enough gun violence here that we're currently #12 in the national murder rate. Some of you are thinking, "See? Get rid of the guns!", and others are thinking, "Shit, I'd damn sure sleep with my pistol near to hand". There are housing projects here where gun murder is routine. The city could hold a sweep and search all the homes for guns, and might get some that belong to violent shooter types. It would also disarm decent people who are frightened of the predators if they were left without a gun, because they know that the criminals won't be, not for long.

No easy answers, none at all. My personal opinion that the gun culture is so entrenched that completely reversing it is very unlikely. I'm in favor of picking off every incremental gain which can be passed... and the NRA is well aware of that and fights every single legal control tooth and nail. I think we're stuck with it. Sandy Hook did not move the needle, and while there is a lot of talk about this shooting, I'll be amazed if anything of substance changes as a result.

Now, if this sort of shooting had happened inside the Capital during the State of the Union, gun ban bills would move fast. I have often noted that in the same courts where judges rule in favor of open carry or carrying guns into absolutely stupid public places, the courthouses uniformly have signs forbidding firearms and knives as well as metal detectors to enforce it.

 

@Neutral Corner, can I just co-sign on that post?

I think a lot of the gun debate is more rural vs. urban than conservative vs. liberal.

 

It is insane that anyone would carry and go out drinking. Bars reserve the right to refuse entry to anyone with a gun and should do so.

 

And not just the gun debate. Much of our political polarization is rural vs. urban.

 

I grew up in tiny towns with three- and four-figure populations. The towns that would be called bumfuck nowhere by the places that Birmingham, Alabamans would call bumfuck nowhere.

Fuck each and every one of your scared white people guns. Half of the people owning them are jacking off at night about the idea that a black person will break into their home so they finally get to feel the power of shooting one, and the other half are going to be completely stunned when their toddler gets blown away by their 6-year-old family friend who got pa's gun out of the locker.

I hope the "gubmint coming to take all our guns" nutjobs have to live out their worst nightmare and the government takes every fucking one of their guns.

 

Anyone storing a loaded gun in a locker is a moron.

 

I really think cops are a huge key to this. Cops don't like people having guns. Cops don't like not knowing which people have guns. If cops get behind gun control as an organized bloc, there will be gun control.

 

If it ever comes to that, I'll have several buried deep in the woods that the government doesn't know I own. And I don't consider myself a nutjob when it comes to guns (other opinions may vary).

 

Well that's a completely sane and responsible thing to do.

 

Anyone who owns a gun for personal protection is a moron. You have made yourself significantly less safe and made you and your family significantly more likely to die by gun violence the moment you bring it into your home.

 

That will be the reaction by a lot of gun owners who despise what the NRA has turned into since the Cinncinnati Revolt.