Posted on 05/28/2008 4:15:33 PM PDT by neverdem
As expected, I heard an earful about my column last week on a new gun group that opposes the National Rifle Association's hard-line views and allegiance to the Republican Party.
NRA loyalists from around the country sent me e-mails echoing the organization's claim that a small rival, the American Hunters & Shooters Association, is just a "front" for gun-control activists. They said that anything that weakens absolute Second Amendment freedom is a slippery slope that will lead to the nation being disarmed.
I believe just the opposite is true -- and I think many gun owners realize it.
There's a lot of money and power to be had by representing gun enthusiasts. Nobody knows that better than the NRA and its many competitors. With guns in nearly half of all American households, these organizations know that fear -- "sneaky liberals want to take away your guns!" -- is a powerful recruiting tool.
Both Democrats and Republicans love to exploit wedge issues that will energize their base. Republicans have become masters of the technique, courting factions that feel so passionately about hot-button topics -- guns, gay rights, abortion, prayer in schools -- that it has become difficult to find common ground on many important issues in American life.
I don't know whether the American Hunters & Shooters Association is a good organization or a bad one. What I found interesting was its willingness to say what many "pro-gun" Kentuckians like me think about this endless debate: that we need some intelligent compromises to protect responsible gun ownership and make communities safer.
Many law-abiding Kentuckians want guns for self-defense or farm use, or because they enjoy shooting, hunting or collecting. Or they believe that America would be less safe if responsible, law-abiding citizens were disarmed. Members of the NRA and similar groups are generally the most responsible gun owners and shooters out there.
Guns were an important part of the frontier heritage that helped make America great. And Kentucky, after all, was the nation's first frontier.
But gun violence and crime are serious problems. The no-compromise crowd has kept law enforcement agencies from having some tools they need to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and crazy people. And that has led to some over-reaching, such as when police in New Orleans illegally seized hundreds of guns after Hurricane Katrina.
Without some intelligent compromises, each new tragedy, like the Virginia Tech or Columbine massacres, will prompt more emotional calls for banning guns. All guns. There are zealots on both sides.
The NRA and other gun groups could learn something from the horse industry.
High-profile deaths of horses in Thoroughbred racing and eventing have created some public backlash against those sports. Rather than stonewall, though, horse industry leaders are aggressively working to make their sports safer. They love horses, sure, but they also realize that their sports could live or die with public opinion.
As society becomes more diverse, we must regain the lost art of compromise. Otherwise, we'll never be able to deal with complex problems in ways that protect everyone's rights. Polarization may be good for special-interest groups and political parties, but it's bad for America.
If Second Amendment absolutists keep standing up and daring others to pry their guns from their "cold, dead fingers," eventually somebody's going to do it.
Reach Tom Eblen at (859) 231-1415 or 1-800-950-6397, Ext. 1415, or at teblen@herald-leader.com.
Eblen is a D.S.!
According to Tom, it's our fault that the gun banners confiscated guns in New Orleans. What kind of faulty logic is needed to come to that conclusion?
It's also interesting that Tom calls for gun owners to "compromise" away their civil rights, yet no suggestion of the gun grabbers compromising away stupid gun laws or restrictions in any way.
************* ANTI GUN ALERT ! *********************
Idiot analogy."
True, but there is something that gun groups can learn from racing. Racing is on its last legs and doesn't realize it's finished. They have just taken a giant step forward in hastening their departure by agreeing to compromise with the people who want them put out of business. When you start to compromise for your own departure, the end is near.
MIchelle Obama would say: “I’m ashamed that in the 21st century, we still haven’t achieved equality in murder rates. The disparity is clear evidence of the racism pervading white America.”
>The no-compromise crowd has kept law enforcement agencies from having some tools they need to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and crazy people.<
Firearm registration has not aided the police in solving a single crime. Is this one of the ‘tools’ he’s referring to?
“If Second Amendment absolutists keep standing up and daring others to pry their guns from their “cold, dead fingers,” eventually somebody’s going to do it.”
The BATFE will run out of people within 24 hours if they ever try this. Who then will the governemnt turn to to try and “pry” our firearms from us? The FBI will look at the depleted BATFE ranks and figure out it isn’t a Federal matter, the U.S. Marshalls aren’t that stupid to try(hopefully). Who then will the gun-control advocates in Congress and elsewhere turn to and try to take our firearms?
Well, I sure hope the MSM televises the first planeload of U.N. Blue Helmets that fly in to help. That plane crash will be nice to see.
As someone once told me, “If you’ll compromise once, you’ll compromise TWICE.” Creating a history of action makes it a self fulfilling prophesy.
Mr. Eblen’s attitude is why we have a government we no longer recognize as the one bequeathed us by our founders.
Mr. Eblen, if some one has to pry them from my cold dead hands, it won’t matter to me, as long as they are EMPTY.
This is an exact admission that, like many other left wing mantras, opposition to gun ownership is a belief system.
Whatever scheme du jour the grabbers are always calling reasonable, e.g. ballistic "fingerprinting," "microstamping," repeal of the Tiahrt Amendment, etc. It never ends. I hope they keep it up in the cities and the states because the snakes in Congress are not showing their true intentions.
Gun control backers not bold on 2009 (As if they would be bold at this time?)
A few years ago when we were the murder capital of the US an officer from the London Metropolitan Police visited us at the New Orleans Coroner’s Office. His comment, after looking at our statistics, was that if a certain segment of our population disappeared our murder problem would disappear. It’s the same group that’s dying in Baltimore.
I agree...also, didn’t a horse drop dead just before the finish line in the Kentucky Derby? I don’t think that is a shining example of the horse racing industry doing anything about their industry.
...or die trying -- lots and lots of 'em...
Most of the people who don’t like the NRA aren’t members and they don’t have a firm grasp on reality. They have this odd idea that the NRA has a magic wand which turns the Senate and Congress into pro-gun activists and gun laws can just go “POOF” and turn into flowers and butterflies.
I agree!
Was that last paragraph meant to be some kind of threat?
Compromise IS limiting gun ownership rights.
The question isn’t whether it IS a slippery slope, it is HOW FAR will the slippery slope slide?
A dangerous firearm would be one that blew up in your face when you pulled the trigger.
Who you shoot with that gun is your own fool fault.
Just as who you run over with your car is no fault of the manufacturer.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.