[Tokra]

if you look at the posters on FR, you discover that at least 1/3 of self-identifying conservatives don't give a rip about the 2nd Amendment

Look up the word "Conservative" in the dictionary. You will NOT see the definition "gun owner".

There are a lot of other issues that people can be conservative about besides gun ownership.

Would you call a tax-loving gunowner a Conservative?

I wouldn't.

[penowa]

And you are apparently another one of those 1/3 who doesn't think we should conserve our original Constitution and prefers instead a "living" one.

[Smokin' Joe]

Whether or not you own a gun is moot, if you accept that the Second Amendment of the Constitution guarantees the individual citizen the right to keep and bear arms, free of limitation.

Keep in mind that that right was written down there by folks who had just overthrown the British tyrany, and the security of a free state was to be guaranteed by the citizens being armed in sufficient numbers to resist tyranny from any source, including their own government.

I have a hard time considering those who would toss out parts of the Constitution 'conservative', whether or not they wish to exercise the rights enumerated therein.

[El Gato]

Would you call a tax-loving gunowner a Conservative?

Taxes are a matter for normal political debate. The Constitution gives Congress the power to tax. However, there's a whole potful of things those taxes are spent on over which Congress has not been given jurisdiction. Work on those, and the taxes will take care of themselves.

Would you be opposed to taxes being spent "To raise and support Armies" or "To provide and maintain a Navy"? Most conservatives would not, and those are authorized Congressional powers.

[arthurus]

A conservative in the USA is one who suppơrts the provisions of the Constitution, especially the original document and the first ten amendments. People who support the whole Constitution will include a higher number of gun owners and certainly all will support gun ownership. It is nowhere suggested that a conservative must be a gunowner anymore than a Freedom -of-Religion supporter must own a Bible. That is a straw man.