Gun Control & RKBA
Related: About this forumThe very politically incorrect truth about the Second Amendment.
http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/20399062/the-very-politically-incorrect-truth-about-the-second-amendment?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=8091875#.UObVQ6rjNkg.facebookArctic Dave
(13,812 posts)Funny how they point to zero documentation to back up their claims.
Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)Craig R. Whitneys Living With Guns Nods to Both Sides
By PHILIP J. COOK
Published: December 25, 2012
In Living With Guns Craig R. Whitney, a former correspondent and editor for The New York Times, writes that he is motivated by the belief that Americans on both sides of the debate about guns can and must find common ground. He hopes to defuse the prevailing hysteria by establishing that both sides are correct in at least one fundamental assertion.
A Liberals Case for the Second Amendment
By Craig R. Whitney
284 pages. PublicAffairs. $28.99.
To gun-rights advocates he would say that there is indeed a personal right to bear arms, and that it actually predates the Second Amendment.
To advocates of gun regulation he endorses the core belief that gun ownership comes with a set of responsibilities. In the colonial era the main responsibility was to serve in the local militia. Now that the militia has given way to the National Guard, there remains a responsibility to accept reasonable regulation of ownership, transfer and use of firearms.
If both the pro- and anti-gun factions today would accept this rights-and-responsibilities perspective, he maintains, then we could move beyond stalemated politics and take steps to reduce the rampage shootings, gang wars and other deadly incidents that impose such a great toll on our nation a toll made all too vivid by the massacre of young children in Newtown, Conn. on Dec. 14.
The problem with Mr. Whitneys analysis is that there is no stalemate. The gun-rights side has the strong upper hand and no apparent need for, or interest in, compromise. In recent decades the National Rifle Associations state legislative agenda, successful in all but the bluest of blue states, has eased restrictions on carrying concealed weapons and has expanded the right to self-defense. Under President George W. Bush, Congress granted the gun industry immunity from most lawsuits, allowed a ban on assault weapons implemented in 1994 to expire and greatly restricted the use of data on gun transactions by law enforcement. The Democrats have ducked or joined the Republicans; the only notable gun-related action in President Obamas first term was the bill he signed to allow guns in the national parks.
more at link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/26/books/craig-r-whitneys-living-with-guns-nods-to-both-sides.html?_r=0
Remmah2
(3,291 posts)Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)sylvi
(813 posts)"The gun-rights side has the strong upper hand and no apparent need for, or interest in, compromise."
Surely the thousands of gun laws currently on the books merits at least a faint recognition as "compromise".
Remmah2
(3,291 posts)And they are enforced equally.
The fact that we have so many laws tells me there is a shortage of common sense. (Not limited to the gun owners either.)