Between Two Worlds
It’s not easy being a leftist who loves guns. It’s like being a Republican who listens to NPR or supports single payer health care. But being a leftist, I get exposed to all the liberal publications and media that invariably call for gun control every time someone does something stupid with one. Being a gun enthusiast, I also get exposed to the political Right’s oversimplification of those liberals as somehow lacking moral fiber or true appreciation of freedom. Rather than agreeing with both, I tend to end up arguing with both. It’s exhausting to always feel like I’m apologizing for the other “side”.
This article takes a point of view, but aims to do so in a way that members of both sides of the political spectrum can understand. I’ll try to give some idea as to why we on the political left roll our eyes at the rhetoric of the NRA, and how we in the “gun culture” can possibly defend something called “assault weapons”.
We all know the cycle by now: Tragic incident occurs, both sides attempt to use it for their political gain, both sides act shocked that the other would attempt to use it for political gain, insults are flung, statistics are cherry-picked, rinse, repeat.
I began writing this some time after the Aurora massacre, but it was just this morning that news started coming in of the mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin. I knew the wave of cries for a renewal of the “assault weapon” and “high capacity” magazine bans hadn’t yet faded from Aurora, and that they would be reinforced by this next event, regardless of how relevant either of the topics were to the incident.
So in order to get around to why the assault weapons ban was an utter and absolute failure in its attempt to deter violent crime, I have to start with mass shootings.
4 comments:
Excellent, everyone should read it, the bottom line is "definitions! What, exactly, is an assault weapon? That point is well developed in the article.
Excellent well written article. It should be required reading for all members of Congress.
The constitution should be required reading for all members of Congress...
I wouldn't be surprised to see the Constitution reprinted and used as toilet paper in the bathrooms of Congress, because they crap on it on a regular basis. They ignore it, ovveride it, subvert it, and in the case of the heads of the Executive Branch (obama) and his minions (i.e. holder) don't even know what it actually says (as in "the Supreme Court has no right to overrule a law passed by a majority in Congress"--- obama 2012).
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