McThag has a post up on his battle fatigue on the Second Amendment fight. Go Read the Whole thing. My comment was too long for Blogger to accept, and since Angus reads this blog, I’ll just let him read it here. I’m generally addressing his closing line here “Am I just focusing too much on the negative that I’m not seeing the positive? I hope so. ”
Now I quote myself.
Your Statements are overall valid, but I think a little pessimistic. Back in the early 90s people didn’t trust many of the new Semi-autos like Glocks, and people looked askance at people with AR-15s, often stating “You can’t hunt with them!”, and politicians and the NRA espoused their “support” of the 2nd Amendment through support of hunters and target shooters. Most states (including your current home) didn’t have Concealed carry, and the states that always had liberal carry laws (like my former home) generally only saw people carrying when “They felt the need”. Carry in Maine in the 90s was synonymous with paranoids, and business men who carried their till to the bank after closing time. Rural people just open carried on their property or in the woods.
After 94 people got curious and started trying out those “evil” rifles and “evil Handguns”, and it turns out they LIKED them (I’m sure the same thing happened with the ban on Caffeinated 4Loko, but when people tried that swill they just decided to cut their losses!)
The popularity of the so-called “Assault Weapons” is the EXACT reason why the ban expired in ’04, just as the UNpopularity of them was why it passed a decade prior.
Yep NFA waits are wayy up, as are carry permit waits in most states. But what’s the REASON? DEMAND.
As much as “Because Liberty” SHOULD be a good enough reason, people are selfish and vote as such. This means a bigger welfare state, but it also means we had the concealed carry boom, the several states that went Constitutional Carry, a full 50 states of concealed carry, further as much as I hate to say it, I think this public opinion (and lack of BLOOD IN THE STREETS) influenced the 5 judges who made Heller and McDonald the victory it was.
Also yes mass shootings have been backtrack time…until Virginia Tech, now at best they convince people we need to put less faith in gun control, and at worst it’s simply a slow in political momentum. Sandy Hook was the new definition of “Worse Case Scenario” where many of our more wildest dreams like National Concealed Carry Reciprocity needed to be put on hold, but all anti-gun bills failed on a Federal level. Some severely “Progressive” states have passed some additional laws, but many of them have been through underhanded tactics rather than in the light of day and with bi-partisan support like in the 90s. In Colorado those actions came with severe consequences of which I don’t think we’ve seen the last of.
No we haven’t changed enough, states can still treat gun owners like blacks in the Jim Crow South, and many states have laws that directly fly in the face of the US Constitution, some untested, like May Issue Permits, “Safety” Rosters, and purchase/ownership permits, and others directly ruled unconstitutional by Heller and McDonald like Assault Weapons bans and “Safe Storage” laws.
We haven’t turned America into a place that is as concerned about firearms as they are about the hive of debauchery that is the American Saloon or the Reefer Den (still those issues have a LONG way to go as well), but what we HAVE done is laid a good foundation. No, most Americans think that carry permits, background checks, and mandatory “safety” classes do some good. No, they’re not interested enough to see how their state’s laws compare to other states, or if there is data that supports that claimed good.
But they have permits. They have ARs (they even hunt with them!). They have 13, 15, 17, 20, 30, 50, 75, and 100 round magazines. They’re sitting through the wait for NFA items, and those people are realizing that guns really aren’t that big a deal, and NO their guns didn’t kill ANYBODY.
Also if you’d take a moment to do a little Red Team work. Look at the antis! The Brady Campaign is in it’s final days. The VPC is now just a collection of foot-notes in anti-gun propaganda. The anti-gun people are STILL siting the work of Arthur Kellermann despite his works being exposed for the smoke and mirrors that it is, and there really hasn’t been any further studies as powerful as that once since, and even the anti-gun President (former Joyce Foundation Board Member) attempted to derail us by sanctioning a CDC study, and then quickly burying it because the results did more harm than good to gun banning.
The only group that is really getting any press today is bankrolled solely by ONE MAN, and one man who is despised across the country, and even the MSM has started to turn on him by debunking his cooked pressers.
Why is the MSM turning on Bloomberg? Not because they want to, but because they HAVE to. Less people are taking in TV news these days, and the lies have gotten greater exposure on the internet than their viewership so it was do-or-die. Compare that with the police officers shooting full-auto AKs at Cinder blocks and over the berms to show why we need to ban semi-auto rifles!
As for the US Military being used as World Police, time will tell. Still we didn’t enter Syria, or Ukraine, and with the failure that is Iraq and Afghanistan, I will HOPE the people will learn….but I won’t bet on it.
As for Police executing no-knock raids on Johnny Pot-Head….or the house down the street because the warrant swapped the numbers, dressed in black fatigues, armor, and carrying full-auto military weapons, arriving in APCs. Time will tell. I will say that the Bundy Ranch was a MUCH softer target than Waco.
I sometimes feel since I live in this horrible state that I force myself to focus too much on the positive, and while since I moved here more towns are issuing permits without restrictions or illegal hoops, overall the tide has been unchanged, which is also kind of remarkable given how much they have tried.
So I think you all know us well enough to know we are BOTH full of shit. How do you feel about the current 2nd Amendment state of affairs?
