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Locked on 06/27/2016 9:48:14 AM PDT by Admin Moderator, reason:
Duplicate post. Please see |
Posted on 06/27/2016 9:31:51 AM PDT by Tandem
On average, Democrats (that’s my team*) use guns for shooting the innocent. We call that crime.
On average, Republicans use guns for sporting purposes and self-defense.
If you don’t believe me, you can check the statistics on the Internet that don’t exist. At least I couldn’t find any that looked credible.
But we do know that race and poverty are correlated. And we know that poverty and crime are correlated. And we know that race and political affiliation are correlated. Therefore, my team (Clinton) is more likely to use guns to shoot innocent people, whereas the other team (Trump) is more likely to use guns for sporting and defense.
That’s a gross generalization. Obviously. Your town might be totally different.
So it seems to me that gun control can’t be solved because Democrats are using guns to kill each other – and want it to stop – whereas Republicans are using guns to defend against Democrats. Psychologically, those are different risk profiles. And you can’t reconcile those interests, except on the margins. For example, both sides might agree that rocket launchers are a step too far. But Democrats are unlikely to talk Republicans out of gun ownership because it comes off as “Put down your gun so I can shoot you.”
Let’s all take a deep breath and shake off the mental discomfort I just induced in half of my readers. You can quibble with my unsupported assumptions about gun use, but keep in mind that my point is about psychology and about big group averages. If Republicans think they need guns to protect against Democrats, that’s their reality. And if Democrats believe guns make the world more dangerous for themselves, that is their reality. And they can both be right. Your risk profile is different from mine.
So let’s stop acting as if there is something like “common sense” gun control to be had if we all act reasonably. That’s not an option in this case because we all have different risk profiles when it comes to guns. My gun probably makes me safer, but perhaps yours makes you less safe. You can’t reconcile those interests.
Our situation in the United States is that people with different risk profiles are voting for their self-interests as they see it. There is no compromise to be had in this situation unless you brainwash one side or the other to see their self-interest differently. And I don’t see anyone with persuasion skills trying to do that on either side.
Fear always beats reason. So as long as Democrats are mostly using guns to shoot innocent people (intentionally or accidentally) and Republicans are mostly using guns for sport or self-defense, no compromise can be had.
If we had a real government – the kind that works – we would acknowledge that gun violence is not one big problem with one big solution. It is millions of people with different risk profiles voting their self-interest as they see it.
So stop acting like one side is stupid. Both sides of the gun issue are scared, and both have legitimate reasons to be that way. Neither side is “right.”
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*I endorsed Clinton for president for my personal safety. I write about Trump’s powers of persuasion and it is not safe to live in California if people think you support Trump in any way. Also, I’m rich, so I don’t want anything to change in this country. The rest of you might have a different risk profile.
My apologies, if I didn't post this well. I'm a rookie poster - long time lurker and occasional responder.
Posted an hour ago, plus the site is loaded with malware.
Not true at all. My side defends freedom and liberty. The other side supports a global government that intrudes upon every single facet of my life and wants not only ghetto people to live next to my family but now Syrian terrorists too.
One side is right: My side.
Mod, please pull - didn’t realize this was a duplicate thread.
Well...what else do you call it when "adults" can't understand 7th grade civics or a written constitution.
bump for later
No, it's not.
Free Republic is flagged as malware by Google on a regular basis. Internet trolls have figured out they can get their revenge by mass-reporting a disfavored website.
Adams has had to disable comments because the trolls have gotten so bad.
There’s a third opinion. Some people own guns for the reason the Founding Fathers were so serious about them that they made it the 2nd most important amendment. And that’s that they feel they need it as an insurance against both Democrat AND Republican politicians abusing their power.
Posting to yourself won't make that happen.
The easiest way to handle this is to self-report your first comment as "abuse", then put in the comments that it is a duplicate -- preferably with a link to the original.
In the future, use the search function for the title -- but be sure to select "title" in the dropdown. It defaults to "keyword", and trips up a lot of people as a result.
Take it!
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