Posted on 10/08/2017 3:19:30 PM PDT by Kaslin
We still don’t know what set off Stephen Paddock in Las Vegas. The 64-year-old checked into the Mandalay Bay hotel, went to the 32nd floor, took 23 firearms with him, and proceeded to fire upon the 22,000 concertgoers below at the Route 91 Harvest music festival. It was the last night of the festival. He killed 58 people and wounded nearly 500 more. He killed himself before police breached the door to his suite.
As Democratic members of Congress prepare to push gun control again, they’re faced with the same obstacles of this increasingly stale debate over whether or not we should chip away at Americans’ constitutional rights. Paddock was independently wealthy which allowed him to buy a lot of firearms. All were purchased legally. He was no criminal history or known mental illness. So, there really isn’t much to advocate for in the legislative front, besides pushing an outright gun ban, which is unconstitutional and politically unfeasible. Senior editor at The Atlantic David Frum had a different take. Play the long game and ingrain into the national psyche that it’s dangerous to own guns, and that it makes you a bad parent to own guns. He said this Tuesday on MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell. He was a guest on the show, along with Rep. Jackey Rosen (D-NV). Newsbusters clipped the exchange [emphasis mine]:
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: The polling shows that most Americans agree with the congresswoman on this.
DAVID FRUM: Well, I wish that were true, but I think when you face the reality, it just isn't. One of the things that we have seen over the past decade is a rising support among Americans for ever broader definitions of gun rights in exactly the way that Justice Burger warned us against. But that it where the country is.
And so it makes this -- and this is a really painful thing to say -- these technical fixes people look for, maybe if we had banned this implement or regulated that implement -- there is something very wrong with the American gun culture. Three percent of the people own 50 percent of the weapons in this country -- I mean, a tiny number of people and vast numbers of weapons.
Until you persuade people that it is just dangerous to themselves, to their children, you're not a good parent if you have a gun in the house, you're not protecting your family, you're a bad parent if you have a gun in the house, until you drill that idea into people's heads and persuade them to change the way we changed about cigarettes and seatbelts, these technical fixes aren't going to accomplish a lot. And pubic opinion -- you can make it look like it's on your side if you ask the poll question the right way, but operationally it's not.
Yeah, I’m sure that’s really going to go over well; telling Americans that they’re bad parents for exercising their constitutional right to own firearms. If anything, that will drive up sales. The firearm is an integral part of American culture and history. There is no escaping that, neither is the incessant push by liberals to blame the tens of millions (the overwhelming majority) of law-abiding American gun owners for the actions of criminals and insane people. Yet, the anti-gun Left keeps doing it, Americans still buy firearms in record numbers; Obama was a terrific salesman, and the Second Amendment stands strong.
The problem is that there are judges and state bureaucracies that share the same view.
Lawsuit alleges Michigan agency told grandfather he’d have to give up gun rights to foster his grandson
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/07/19/lawsuit-alleges-michigan-agency-told-grandfather-hed-have-to-give-up-gun-rights-to-foster-his-grandson.html
Nothing happened to me, but I heard and read enough about young children who got hold of a gun because their idiot father or uncle let the gun lay around where the toddlers could find them.
“You’re a Bad Parent if you let your children Watch TV”
Friends dont let friends vote democrat.
Parents are supposed to protect their kids. If you dont own a gun, you cant protect your kid.... ergo, you are a bad parent.
I would suggest practicing. Own it!
The 3%:50% came from article last year:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/19/us-gun-ownership-survey
I would fall in the 3% but lost all my firearms in a boating accident. :o(
As I said, from a literal lifetime of handling firearms of all types, I find most stories where toddlers allegedly "find" a gun, and manipulate it to the point where it fires and injures or kills them, or someone else, incredibly suspicious.
That said, I don't need the opinion of someone utterly ignorant of a subject to tell me what I am and am not responsible for.
“Ah, yes, The Egregious Frum.”
Frump...what a knob. Why do we even note what these handjobs say?
Having pursued an advanced degree in the humanities, I automatically stop listening when I hear the words, "a Harvard study says..."
Kaslin, my dear, perhaps you have a point. My intention was not to direct any animosity toward you. Rather the article, which is the first I ever commented on without reading, really. The title in itself revealed enough blind arrogance to know the content of ridiculous intent. I’m not a gun guy but possess because the world dictates I should or possibly suffer. Who better or with more conviction to defend my castle and it’s precious contents than me? That is the stark reality the world has always shown in some form. Your fear/aversion is justified, but not your fault. But protect yourself ... perhaps a spear gun or flame thrower? ;) And don’t let anyone tell you different in their misguided steel-toed boot marching to fuel their twisted ideology to sooth idiosyncrasies inane. And I don’t ride motorcycles anymore also.
“Same old drivel as in 1968, after the murder of Bobby Kennedy.”
Believe me, it was much worse then. I was 19 that year and already knew that LBJ rammed GCA-68 through Congress as his final revenge against his opponents, meaning anyone who owned guns and disagreed with his Great Society agenda.
Rednecks and hardhats, later derided as Nixon’s `silent majority’, were the class enemy to Lyndon Johnson, possibly the most evil & vindictive chief executive this nation has ever known. His death at 64 was sheer karma in my view.
The common culture of the late sixties regarded the NRA & gun owners as ignorant dangerous hicks. Polls routinely claimed that a majority felt handguns should be banned.
Today at least (an era that began with Ronald Reagan) the gungrabbers must endure counterattack from their intended targets. It’s much more an equal battle than before.
Wow, I thought I was the only one who thought it was important to teach their kids how to drive a manual. Way to go.
If you read the Atlantic, you are a bad American
I did not feel that you did.
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