Laura Washington enters the "Oh-No-You-Didn't Zone"

[derby378]

In a recent article of hers entitled Let's Pry Open Those Cold, Dead Hands, Washington called for gun-control advocates to embrace the Internet in order to get their message out. She stated that the "rabid response" of people like you and I is such that we "out-gun, out-email, gun-control advocates by more than 20 to one" while people from the Brady Campaign and similar organizations are relegated to late-night cable.

Laura Washington's solution? "Fight fire with emails and a focused response. Gun control advocates should piggyback on the success of online activist groups like MoveOn.org and MeetUp.com." She also called for progressives, by name, to "harness the Internet and aim it at Democratic and independent voters."

Hey, Ms. Washington? Can I share a secret with you? I already am a progressive Democrat. And, on top of that, I actually own firearms. Here at Amendment II Democrats, however, we welcome all Democrats, be they conservative or liberal, centrist or progressive, as long as they believe that our Second Amendment rights are non-negotiable. Let's run through that amendment once again: A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. There it is, in plain sight: the right of the people not to hunt, not to engage in government-approved shooting sports, but to keep and bear arms in the context of the well-regulated militia that we are, if you'd just read the US v. Emerson and Parker v. DC rulings.

More here: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=161038273&blogID=314477249

[depakid]

1. Americans are too irrational about this issue to ever put meaningful controls in place

and so its society will remain exceedingly violent, with ever increasing numbers of prisons and needless tragedies.

Contrasted with countries like Australia that managed to deal with the aftermath of the Port Arther mass shotting in a responsible manner- America is satisfied with (indeed, it often seems to revel in) its violent nature.

All of which makes gun control a non-issue with many of us.

[derby378]

4. "Responsible?" As in confiscating guns from law-abiding citizens?

Owning a gun is not a violent act. Shooting a gun at a paper target is not a violent act. Before leaping to deriding our "violent nature," try taking a few baby steps.

[depakid]

6. All you have to do is look around

or travel abroad.

My conclusions mirror those of my friends in Britain and Australia- which is as I mentioned, that American attitudes toward firearms are irrational- and they've condemned themselves to a violent state.

Generally, they won't even mention guns to Americans- because they know the kinds of things that they'll hear. Leaves them dismayed almost every time.

[Fridays Child]

2. She would do well to remember the words of Will Rogers...

I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat."

For whatever aches and pains it causes us, we are nothing like the monolithic, goose-stepping Repubots. And this article may go a long way toward explaining the difference.

[Mythsaje]

3. I support the right of self-defense...

There is nothing more to say.

[Prophet 451]

5. I doubt I'd fit in

I'm very much pro-gun rights but I suspect my belief that you should have to take a basic safety test before legally buying a gun would rule me out.

[derby378]

7. Personally, I like that idea...

A lot of people don't, true, but I think all of us could use some drilling in basic gun safety.

[Prophet 451]

8. That's the idea

Just set it into law that you need to show a certificate saying you successfully passed a basic safety test before you purchase.

My father sometimes serves as a range officer, you wouldn't believe the stories he can tell...

[Adsos Letter]

9. I would believe it...

I grew up in a family of responsible gun owners, who also liked to hunt (although I don't do the hunting part anymore). I was schooled from a very early age in the safe and proper storage and handling of firearms. I also received my first shotgun at age 13, a cut-down-stock Winchester double-barrel that was passed down through the extended family, sort of a "right of passage". My family were (and I remain) firm believers in the 2nd Amendment.

However...when I got into the Army I was amazed at how little others knew about gun-safety issues...maybe this comes from growing up in a city environment? :shrug:

I thought the majority of our prison population was there on non-violent offenses...

ON EDIT: I can master firearms...but spelling and grammar seem to be beyond my grasp :dunce:

[Prophet 451]

10. Good question

I don't know what it is. As you'd expect, my father drilled firearms safety into me as a kid. I think a lot of people think of a firearm as a kind of talisman: "Nothing can happen, I have a gun". They don't realise that it takes practice to master so they don't practice and, as a result, don't learn basic safety.

[reprobate]

11. Training in safety, handling, and 48 hours in a major city emergancy room.

I think that seeing the results of gun violence will be the one thing that will cause people to be more reluctant to use firearms unless absolutely necessary to save a life.

Or to kill paper targets.

[derby378]

12. Haven't been in an ER, but I've seen morgue photos of fatal GSWs

That sounds like the same idea behind those gruesome police videos of traffic accidents that they showed us during Driver's Ed. Actually being in the ER might only get you in the way of the docs and paramedics as they try to keep victims from crashing. Still, not a bad idea.